Kerala High Court said, decision to be taken within eight weeks of receipt of order
Kochi:
The Kerala High Court has directed the Board of Undergraduate Medical Education to consider representations of two non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working for the welfare of the LGBTQ community against alleged queer-phobic content in medical textbooks.
The court in its September 7 order directed the board to obtain the comments and views of the Kerala University of Health Sciences, Thrissur on the representations made by NGOs Queritham and Disha before taking a final decision.
The court said that the decision has to be taken within eight weeks of getting the immediate order.
The Kerala University of Health Sciences was asked to provide its comments and views to the board on the allegations made in the NGO’s petition as well as their representation without waiting for a copy of the court order.
The NGOs said the textbooks made discriminatory remarks and inhumane references to the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community.
He alleged that the material in the books presents the sexual or gender identity of the community as a crime, mental disorder or perversion.
This, the NGOs argued, is a violation of their fundamental and constitutional rights, which have also been recognized by the Supreme Court, which has criminalized homosexual sex between consenting adults.
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