A decision has to be taken within eight weeks of receiving the order, Kerala High Court said
The Kerala High Court has directed the Undergraduate Medical Education Board to consider the representations of two non-governmental organisations (NGOs), working for the welfare of the LGBTQ community, against alleged queer-phobic contents in medical textbooks.
The court in its September 7 order directed the Board to first obtain the remarks and views of the Kerala University of Health Sciences, Thrissur, on the representations made by the NGOs Queerythm and Dhisha before taking the final decision.
The decision has to be taken within eight weeks of receiving the instant order, the court said.
The Kerala University of Health Sciences was asked to provide its remarks and views to the Board on the allegations made in the petition of the NGOs as well as their representations without waiting for a copy of the court order.
The NGOs said discriminatory remarks and inhuman references have been made in the textbooks with regard to the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) community.
They alleged that contents in the books stereotyped the community's sexual or gender identities as an offence, mental disorder, or perversion.
This, the NGOs contended, amounted to an infringement of their fundamental and constitutional rights that have been recognised even by the Supreme Court which has decriminalised homosexual sex between consenting adults.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)