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

LGBTQ rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Nota ...

activist in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

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

HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

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 Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...

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

Assam, India Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

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

Chabua Chabua ( or ) is a town and a town area committee in Dibrugarh district in the state of Assam, India. Chabua is situated in between Dibrugarh town and Tinsukia town on NH-37 from both the district towns, respectively. Its name derives from Ch ...

Guwahati Guwahati () the largest 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 seat of the Government of Assam. Th ...

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

, 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, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

. He first attended

Calcutta University The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

and thereafter studied Law at the

University of Burdwan The University of Burdwan (also known as Burdwan University or B. U.) is a public state university located in Purba Bardhaman, West Bengal, India. It was established by the West Bengal Government as a teaching and affiliating university on 1 ...

, 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, 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 LGBTQ 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