Aditya Bandopadhyay (sometimes transliterated as Bondyopadhyay, born February 1972) is a lawyer and LGBTQ rights activist in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, helping to challenge anti-sodomy laws, establishing advocacy organizations and providing legal services to

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

organizations.

Early life and education

Bondyopadhyay grew up mostly in

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is ...

, Uttar Pradesh State, India, though he spent parts of his childhood in

Assam, India Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur to ...

. Over the years Bondyopadhyay has lived in the Indian cities of

, Chabua,

Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

, and

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

. He first attended Calcutta University and thereafter studied Law at the University of Burdwan, both in West Bengal, India.

Activism

Bondyopadhyay has been an activist for LGBTQ rights since 1993. Bondyopadhyay played a leading role in the movement to decriminalize sodomy in India. He also works with the

movement in South Asia for the prevention intervention of male-to-male sexual SMtransmission, care support, and treatment issues of people living with HIV (PLHIV) and MSM. Part of his work is his association with the

Lawyers Collective Lawyers Collective is a non-governmental organization in India which promotes human rights, especially on issues relating to women's rights, HIV, tobacco, LGBT and parliamentary corruption in India. On 1 June 2016, Govt of India suspended the FC ...

, one of India's leading Human Rights Groups, and with the Naz Foundation, a London-based agency that has helped set up over forty community-owned HIV projects for MSM in India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh. He also coordinated the Secretariat of the

Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health The Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health, also known as APCOM, is a network of non-profit organizations which share the mission of improving male sexual health in South Asia, East Asia, and the Pacific Islands. History APCOM was launched ...

(APCOM)] from its inception in October 2006 until December 2008. In 2001, he represented four employees of the NAZ Foundation and Bharosa Trust (an NGO in the city of Lucknow, Lucknow, India with the mission of HIV prevention efforts within the MSM community) who were charged with conspiracy to commit sodomy and possession of obscene material after a raid of their offices. He also ensured the unsealing of the offices after the raid and the continuation of the organisation's work. He was also part of the legal team that aided

Blue Diamond Society The Blue Diamond Society (BDS; Nepali: नील हीरा समाज) is an LGBT rights organization in Nepal. It was established in 2001 to advocate for change in the existing laws against homosexuality and to advocate for the rights of N ...

, Nepal's leading LGBTQ rights organization, in defending a challenge to their existence and functioning brought before the Nepali Supreme Court. He was part of the legal team that researched and drafted the petition filed in the Delhi High Court challenging the constitutionality of India's anti-sodomy law, Section 377 Indian Penal Code. This petition ( Naz Foundation v. Govt. of NCT of Delhi and Others) resulted in the 2 July 2009 decision of the Delhi High Court decriminalizing homosexuality in India and reading down the Section 377 to imply that it shall not apply to private adult consensual sexual activity. Bondyopadhyay was the first Asian and the third queer person in the world to testify before the United Nations Committee on Human Rights in 2002, against the state-supported and sponsored oppression of sexual minorities in India. His testimony was the third testimony the UN had heard to date relating to abuse on account of sexual orientation. He is the Director of
Adhikaar
an LGBT Human Rights organisation based in Delhi, India, working to secure equal citizenship rights for all sexual minorities in India. He is a founding member of th
Global Forum for MSM and HIV
and sat on its steering committee from its inception in 2007 until May 2014. He is a member of the Governing Board of APCOM.ILGLaw
/ref> Bandopadhyay helps run the Harmless Hugs collective, organizing for LGBT rights in India as well as serving as an adviser to various international development agencies.

Publications

Laws Affecting LGBT Persons in South Asia, A Desk Review
A study into the life situation of Sexual Minority (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Kothi and Transgender) persons in Bangladesh; co-authored with Shale Ahmed
My Body is Not Mine
Violence and hope in the lives of Kothsi; co-authored with Vidya Shah and photographs by Parthiv Shah
From the Frontline
Study into the violence faced by Kothis and MSM in six cities of India and one city in Bangladesh; co-authored with Shivananda Khan
Against the Odds
The impact of legal, socio-cultural, legislative and socio-economic impediments to effective HIV/AIDS interventions with males who have sex with males in Bangladesh; co-authored with Shivananda Khan

References

External links

Aditya Bondyopadhyay's interview.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bandopadhyay, Aditya 1972 births Bengali activists Bengali Hindus 21st-century Bengalis 20th-century Indian lawyers Indian LGBT rights activists Living people Kendriya Vidyalaya alumni Goenka College of Commerce and Business Administration alumni University of Calcutta alumni University of Burdwan alumni Indira Gandhi National Open University alumni