An Indian TV news report titled Gay Culture Rampant In Hyderabad has publicly outed several Indian gay men following a covert ‘gay-sting’ operation.

The report from news channel TV9 Telugu shows people searching through gay youths profiles on online dating/social networking website planetromeo.com.

The men found on the website were labeled ‘deviants’ and photos of them, along with personal information such as names, were clearly displayed.

Extremely private information about one user – including his penis size, fetishes, and his preferred sexual position – was shown in the report.

The item continued with phone-call ‘gay-stings’ of two of the website’s users whose profiles and faces were also shown. During the calls an investigator posed as a planetromeo.com user and the men are covertly asked questions about their sexual lives and preferences.

Homosexual activity in India, while legalised in 2009, still remains a cultural taboo within wider Indian society and government.

GAY COMMUNITY OUTRAGE

TV9 has been condemned by Indian Desi blog Gaysi, encouraging others to “voice their opposition to TV9’s blatant act of privacy and rights violation.”

The Gaysi article titled ‘TV9s Homophobic Coverage’ also goes on to list the news report’s broadcast violations of the News Broadcasters Association’s (NBA) Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards which, for example, “clearly prohibits superstition (Section 2 Article 8) to be passed off as a fact” citing the generalisation of gay men as ‘deviant’, used in the news report as a reference.

Aditya Bondyopadhyay, advocate and Director of LGBT Human Rights Programs for Delhi based LGBT community organisation Adhikaar, also issued a letter to TV9’s legal department.

His states that the channel “will be held solely responsible for any harm or injury that is caused to any member of the LGBT community of Hyderabad or anywhere else in India,” and also points out that the news report “hunted down private profiles of individuals.” Not only were their names and pictures broadcast but TV9’s crew “called them up in a clear attempt at entrapment and prodded them with leading questions about their private sexual lives.

“As a rule channels must not intrude on private lives or personal affairs of individuals, unless there is a clearly established larger and identifiable public interest for such a broadcast,” added Bondyopadhyay, who seeks an apology “separately and specifically, to each and every individual who has been maliciously and unethically targeted by your channel, as well as to air a news article apologizing to the entire LGBT community of India whose security, constitutionally protected liberties and freedoms, and fundamental rights to a life of dignity, have been severely jeopardized by your unscientific, prejudiced, unsubstantiated, malicious, and vicious content and comments.” The full letter can be read here.

TV9 has yet to comment on the news report, but the video of the original story has now been removed from TV9’s YouTube channel. It has since been uploaded by another YouTube user:

An English transcript of the report is here.

TV ‘gay sting’ tactics were used locally for a 7 News story last year outing NSW MP David Campbell. 7’s report was unfortunately OKed by Australia’s media watchdogs as being “in the public interest.”