Indian Woman Uses Spycam to Have Husband Arrested for Gay Sex

A 32-year-old man in Bangalore, India, was arrested October 20 for homosexuality after his wife, who claimed to be emotionally bruised by lack of sexual attention from her husband of one year, secretly recorded him on video having sex with another man, reports BuzzFeed.

The arrest comes less than a year after India's Supreme Court reinstated Section 377 of the country's penal code, which outlaws "carnal intercourse against the order of nature with man, woman, or animal". The unidentified man's detention serves as a contradiction to the speculation of judges who restored the ban (after it was, for a time, unenforceable), that arrests wouldn't happen because "what happens in private is private."

"[T]here is no sexual contact between me and my husband," the 31-year-old woman married to the suspect told police in a statement obtained by BuzzFeed. The woman further stated that she had been "suffering, thinking that my life was ruined."

A Bangalore-based law firm has offered to provide legal assistance to the arrested man, a software engineer. That firm, known as the Alternative Law Forum, was instrumental in filing a challenge to Section 377 earlier this year.

In April, India's Supreme Court agreed to hear a final argument against the reinstatement of Section 377, itself a relic of British colonial rule.

"The Supreme Court in its deliberations felt that the dangers of Section 377 existed only through blackmail and extortion," ALF attorney Danish Sheikh told BuzzFeed. "What is particularly significant in [this] case is the blatant scale of intrusion of privacy which has allowed for prosecution under 377 to take place."

The woman, who describes herself as a "dental doctor," wants police to take legal action against her husband and his parents for allegedly arranging a sham marriage to a reportedly gay man. She says she feels cheated by all three people.

Ironically, news of the arrest arrives just as Apple CEO Tim Cook comes out of the closet. Analysts and activists say Cook's public announcement that he is gay may have a longterm benefit to LGBT people globally, but there's no word yet about whether or not Apple or other LGBT-supportive tech corporations with deep roots in India -- which NBC News called the world's outsourcing capital in 2010 -- will put pressure on the country to repeal antigay laws, like Section 377.

For India and LGBT rights, it's three steps forward and two steps back.