Snapdeal, India's largest online marketplace has been taken to court for selling vibrators and lubricants for an alleged violation of the anti-gay Section 377 law that criminalizes same-sex relations.
Suhaas Joshi, an advocate in the Supreme Court, filed a criminal complaint against Snapdeal and another adult sexual wellness and products website OhMySecrets.com for exhibiting and selling “obscene” products and accessories such as vibrators and lubricants and thereby “abetting gay sex.”
Media have reported that a magistrate has directed the police to investigate the matter and submit a report within a month.
"Snapdeal.com is an online marketplace which provides a platform to connect buyers and sellers. We understand that at times sellers may list products which may be considered inappropriate by some, and we take down such listings upon being notified of the same and conduct a necessary review of the same," a Snapdeal spokesperson told The Economic Times.
Various media reported that Joshi filed the complaint not because he was against consensual adult same-sex relations but because he wanted to "to test the limits of India’s anti-homosexuality law."
Media reports mentioned that Joshi said in his petition that products such as anal lubes and massagers that are shaped like the male phallus violate Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. Companies selling such products that could be used for same-sex relations are in violation of the law because the Indian government deems such acts as illegal.
Since his petition filed towards the end of February, Ohmysecrets.com has shut down and visitors to the site were shown a “coming soon” message. Now however, the webpage is not available.
This is not the first time that online marketplaces have run into trouble and earlier this year, the south Indian Telangana state government sought to block Flipkart and three other sites including Imbesharam.com, Thatspersonal.com and Ohmysecrets.com for “objectionable content.” The later two websites sell sex toys and intimacy products while Flipkart had introduced a sexual wellness section past July.
Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code criminalises same-sex relations describing it as “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” and which is punishable by up to life imprisonment.
The law was introduced by the colonial British more than 150 years ago but which independent India has chosen to keep. The Supreme Court in December 2013 upheld the validity of Section 377, reversing the 2009 Delhi’s high court ruling that decriminalized it and gave the gay community broad protections and rights.
Gay rights activists have maintained that the law besides being discriminatory and unjust left the gay community open to harassment, persecution and prone to be preyed upon both by police as well as criminals.