ByThree men who threatened a gay man and robbed him now stand to face a charge under a hitherto little known provision of the law dealing with extortion-related harassment.On October 9, a magistrate's court allowed the prosecution's application to frame a charge under section 389 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).The provision prescribes a maximum punishment of 10 years and a fine if a person is found guilty of threatening to accuse someone of offences like murder, rape or attempt to murder, in order to commit extortion.The section states that if a person commits extortion by “putting someone in fear of accusation of the offence“ under section 377, which criminalises “carnal intercourse against the order of nature“, including sex between men, he or she can be punished with life imprisonment. Gay men are frequent targets of extortion and blackmail, a brand of crime that, according to LGBT rights lawyers, has increased since the 2013 Supreme Court verdict upholding section 377.The magistrate court's directions allowing the addition of section 389 relates to the case of Aditya Mehra (name changed to protect his identity), who befriended a man on a social networking site last March, and subsequently arranged to meet him in Mumbai that same month. A little while after they became acquainted, two unknown men began to issue threats against Mehra, threatening exposure, the he has alleged. According to Mehra, the men warned him that they would inform his family of his trysts with men.They took away cash worth 5,000, a laptop and “other valuables“. He did not offer resistance as he feared social discrimination.However, after consulting with the LGBT rights organisation Humsafar Trust and Lawyers Collective, Mehra registered an FIR with the MRA Marg police in April, following which the three men, Rais Riaz Shaikh, Avdhoot Vijay Hatankar and Sahil Abdul Shaikh, were arrested and charged with robbery.Mehra's lawyers and the prosecution in December 2014 moved to add the charge relating to the extortionate offence, so that the three men may be prosecuted for homophobic violence, and not just robbery. The matter was heard on September 11 this year.The magistrate pronounced the order on October 9, but the defence was given time till November 26 to appeal the addition of the new charge in the sessions court, when charges will be framed.Suraj Sanap, the complainant's lawyer, arguing last month for framing the new charge told the court: “Homosexual men are disproportionately vulnerable to extortion, harassment and violence due to the stigma and discrimination resulting from the criminalisation of penilenon vaginal sex under section 377.“The defence argued that no case of extortion was made out, and therefore the new section could not apply. The prosecutor, however, pointed out that the man's body and reputation had been targeted by creating a “fear psychosis“ with the threat of criminal prosecution.“If Section 389 charge is framed by the court, other gay men might feel more confident about complaining to the police about cases of extortion,“ said Tripti Tandon, an advocate who works with Lawyers' Collective, which argued the section 377 case in the Supreme Court.“As of now, the police don't know under what section an FIR could be registered and tend to invoke general sections of theft, extortion and the like.“ She added: “An important message will go out to gay men that the police and courts take their complaints seriously.“Other lawyers said the section is seldom invoked, if at all. “It is an important tool that has not really been used so far,“ said Danish Sheikh, a consultant with the Alternative Law Forum. “It is great that it exists but there is not a lot of clarity on what it entails because it hasn't really been interpreted in terms of a case.“