 |
| Brian presents on Pushkin. Abstract This intervention revisits the life and murder of Pushkin Chandra, an affluent gay, living in Anand Lok complex in Delhi on 14 August 2004. It situates the murders of Pushkin and his partner Kuldeep within the legal debate on homosexuality from the Naaz foundation challenging section 377 in 2001 to the Delhi High Court striking down the section in 2009. The investigation into the case focussed more on Pushkin's 'dissolute' life rather than the facts of the case resulting in the media trial of a dead man. This paper also considers the nexus at the time between affluent gays in the capital to pick up partners from the lower strata of society. The inspiration for this intervention arises from a poem of mine titled '15 August' (2004) which threw the spotlight on Dhananjay, Nafisa, and Pushkin who all died of unnatural deaths in 2004. 20 years on, after the decriminalization of homosexuality in 2018, prejudice still exists. Pushkin and Kuldeep's deaths should not be in vain. __________________________ |
Comments