009.Testing for Homosexuality

Two years back, I was involved in a most bizarre case. A young boy of eight, Kalu was once coming home from school. The time was around 2.00 p.m.

Two sturdy looking persons came to him and lured him away with a chocolate. They took him to his house and tried to have intercourse with him tried to have intercourse with him through anus. When the boy protested, they offered him a ten-rupee not for this "little job". He was told that he would not be hurt.

Kalu was a poor boy and a sum of Rs.10/- was big amount for him. He could purchase many toys with that amount, which he had always wanted to. Although he did not like the idea of someone introducing his 'organ' in to his anus, yet the lure of the money let him allow that.

During the act, however, he suffered from great pain and even bled slightly. His gait became painful and wobbling after that. When his parents asked him why he was walking in a peculiar way, he replied cautiously that he had fallen down and hurt himself. The parents paid no further attention to him.

However things did not stop there. The nest week, the two youths met Kalu and suggested the same bargain. The boy hesitated a little, but then decided that he could do with another ten rupee note!

From then on, this became quite regular. Those two youths would regularly have anal intercourse with Kalu-almost twice every week-and would each time give him ten rupees. The affair went on for quite a number of weeks.

Then trouble started when the boy developed some ulcers around his anus. These ulcers were discharging pus. His parents thought that the boy had caught some infection and so brought him to me. When I examined him I found that he was suffering from syphilis-a venereal disease. Such a young boy could catch syphilis in only one way-through anal intercourse.

I explained the situation to his parents and at the same time informed the police also, because it had become a medico-legal case. Kalu's parents lost their temper and started beating Kalu. Kalu then revealed that Jagga and Kaka, two youths of his area had been using him in this way.

Before we go on with our story further, a few words about homosexuality or 'coitus through anus' would be in order. Intercourse through anus is known as sodomy or buggery. An adult male can perform anal intercourse on an adult male, adult female or on a young child(of either sex), as in Kalu's case. When homosexuality is done on an adult male, the practice is known as homosexual sodomy. When a male commits anal intercourse on a female, it is known as heterosexual sodomy. When a child is used, the practice is known as paederasty. This child is usually known as a catamite.

The person who performs the act is known as the active agent and the one on whom the act is performed is known as the passive agent. Sometimes two adult males act as active and passive agents alternately. More commonly however, a passive agent always remains a passive agent.

In our country, many people regularly earn their livelihood by acting as passive agents and charging a fat fee from their customers. These are known as male prostitutes. Several hijrahs whom are all familiar with, mostly act a passive agents,. Several boys like Kalu agree to become passive agents for the sake of money only.

In our country, anal intercourse is a crime. According to section 377 of I.P.C., if it can be proved in anal intercourse, he can be sent to jail for 10 years. So Jagga and Kaka had every reason to deny their involvement in anal intercourse with Kalu. It was not merely a matter of shame, but a criminal act. As we shall see later, they did deny their involvement and it remained for me to prove conclusively that they had indeed used Kalu as a passive agent.

An interesting thing is that if a passive agent consents for anal intercourse, even then the he can be incriminated under Section 377 of I.P.C. In our case, Kalu had consented for the act, but since he was only eight years old, his consent was not valid and he could not be incriminated. According to our law, any child under 16 years of age can not understand the nature of such acts and thus his consent for such act is not legal.

Another interesting thing is that if a person performs anal intercourse on his own wife, even then he is a culprit under section 377 I.P.C. If his wife consents for such an act, then even she is a culprit and both can be sent to jail for 10 years.

A wife can refuse her husband who demands anal intercourse from her. Interestingly she can not legally refuse normal vaginal intercourse to her husband even if she is not in "mood", but she can and must refuse anal intercourse, because if she does not refuse anal intercourse, she also becomes a culprit.

If a wife refuses normal vaginal intercourse with her husband and her husband forcibly commits such an intercourse with her, she can not bring him before thee law, but the same is not true of anal intercourse. Not only can she send him to jail for 10 years (if she wants to), but is also entitled to divorce him In fact if a male commits anal intercourse on any man, child or woman, the wife is entitled to divorce him.

So much regarding some of the legal points regarding homosexuality. When Jagga and Kaka were interrogated by the police regarding their criminals act, they denied any such involvement. So the burden of proving their involvement fell on me.

Whenever a passive agent is brought to us, we examine mainly his anus which tells us several tell tale signs. The person is examined in a knee-elbow position(Fig.1: Please consult the original magazine to see the figure). In this position the person rests on his knees and elbows. This position is chosen because it exposes the anus in a most prominent way. I first 'inserted a cotton swab (just like Johnson's buds; but with longer handle) into Kalu's anus. The idea was that if any seminal fluid was present in the anal canal, it would be absorbed by the cotton. It could then be tested for the presence of seminal fluid. the presence of seminal fluid in the anal canal confirms that buggery has been done on the passive agent.

One of the most common preliminary tests to confirm semen is the Florence test. In this test, we prepare an extract of the suspected, seminal fluid from the anus and mix it with the Florence reagent. If the suspected fluid is semen, then dark brown needle-shaped crystals are formed (see figure 3: Please consult the original magazine to see the figure) Formation of these crystals confirms the presence of semen. We also try to look at the extract under the microscope. The presence of small tadpole-like sperm cells confirms the presence of semen. We also see the underwear of the active and passive agents under a special light, the ultraviolet light. If seminal stains are present on the underwear, they begin to glow brightly.

The examination of anus also tells several things. Figure 2 shows three main findings in and around the anus. For the purpose of clarify, anal opening is shown slightly enlarged. An important is tearing of the skin around the anus. this is known as fissure. these fissures appear because of the introduction of large-sized male organ in relatively narrow anal canal. Second important thing is the laxity of the anal sphincter. Anal sphincter is a circular muscle which acts much like a highly elastic rubber band (Figure 3: Please consult the original magazine to see the figure). It actually checks the faecal matter from coming out involuntarily. But when male organ is repeatedly introduced in the anal canal, as during buggery, this sphincter becomes lax and the anus starts gaping.

The third important sign is the smoothness of the covering of the anal canal. If we dilate the anus of a normal person and look inside, we find that the covering inside is much like an orange peel, i.e., rugged and rough. But repeated acts of penis insertion smoothers out the ruggedness of the covering. These three signs were quite suggestive that the boy was being used as a catamite.

Interestingly, when I subjected the swab taken from Kaka's rectum to Florence test, it came positive for seminal fluid. His anus also showed all the three classical signs. The lawyers of Jagga and Kaka could not refute this hardcore medical evidence in the court. The court admitted my evidence and sentenced both of them to ten years of rigorous imprisonment.

Note: Certain figures mentioned in the text may not be visible here. Although not being able to look at the figures would not interfere with the comprehension of the article very much, if it is desired to have a look at the figures, readers are advised to consult the original text in the magazine.

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