criminalises homosexuality

extortion case

Supreme Court

IPC

gay sex

Central Crime Branch sleuths

homosexual encounter

CCB

Forensic Science

For perhaps the first time since the apex court in December upheld Act that, Bangalore Police have invoked it inIn possibly the first case in the country after theupheld Section 377 of the, makinga punishable offence, seven youths have been arrested for their alleged homosexual encounters with a city-based doctor. In addition to this, thehave also filed a complaint against them for blackmailing and extorting Rs 16 lakh from him in a span of three months.The youths allegedly shot a video of athe doctor reportedly had with two of the suspects. They later masqueraded as policemen and media reporters to further threaten the doctor into coughing up huge sums of money.The Tilaknagar police have registered a case under section 377 (unnatural sex) and 384 (extortion) of the IPC against Suhas, 20, a resident of Avalahalli; Diwakar, 19, of Parvathipuram; Madhu, 19, of Hanumanthnagar; Nikesh, 22, of Dwarakanagar; Vishwa, 21, of Hanumanthnagar; Mahesh, 19, of Basavanagudi; and Vikash, 21, of Gavipura-Guttahalli. These seven youths allegedly schemed to extort money from the doctor.Highly-placed sources in theconfirmed the doctor was a 52-year-old married man with a family, a resident of Jayanagar IV 'T' block . Since his reputation and public image were at stake, the doctor gave in to the demands of the youths. However, fearing the video would fall into the wrong hands, he approached the police.Police said the sordid rendezvous began when Suhas, an employee of a national dish television network, went to the doctor’s house to set up a new connection. Suhas reportedly realised the doctor was making sexual advances toward him and decided to respond positively.The duo is said to have begun indulging in gay sex after which Suhas told his other friends about the incident and the group connived to videotape the encounters and blackmail the doctor. Subsequently, Suhas’s friends Madhu, Vikash, and Diwakar also allegedly began having sex with the doctor. This is said to have continued for a period of two months.About a month ago, the suspects landed up at the doctor’s house.While Suhas and Diwakar allegedly indulged in gay sex with the doctor, Madhu and Vikash secretly recorded the act on video camera. Immediately after this, the youths showed the doctor the recording. They threatened to release the video to the media and the police and blackmailed him into shelling out Rs 5 lakh. They splurged the money in bars and pubs.Barely a fortnight after this, Suhas, Madhu, Vishwa, Mahesh, and Nikesh went back to the doctor’s house, but this time in disguise. While Vishwa and Mahesh pretended to be policemen, Nikesh told the doctor he was a television news reporter who had been intimated about his escapades.For the second time in a month, the group successfully extorted Rs 11 lakh from the doctor and distributed the spoils among themselves to buy expensive gadgets and clothes. They also stayed at luxury resorts and hotels in the city, the police said.“While we are not sure if this is the first case being filed under section 377 of the IPC following the Supreme Court ruling, this is definitely one of the rare complaints to be registered. The doctor has not been booked yet as he is the complainant for the extortion,” said Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Pronab Mohanty.“Technically, the doctor is also an accused in the case since he allegedly ‘pursued’ the remaining accused and convinced them to engage in consensual homosexual sex,” a CCB source said.DCP (Crime) Abhishek Goyal said it is yet to be investigated if the act between the doctor and the youths was consensual or forced. If investigations prove it was consensual, the doctor will be booked, the DCP added, refusing to identify the doctor or reveal his personal details.Meanwhile, the video footage has been recovered from the youths and sent to theLaboratory for examination.In December 2013, the Supreme Court overturned the July 2009 ruling of the Delhi High Court decriminalising gay sex between consenting adults in private. In doing so, it upheld the validity of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code – dating back to the British era -- which makes gay sex illegal and the status of homosexuals that of criminals once again.