15-year-old boy sets himself on fire over anti-gay bullying
By Will Stroude
A 15-year-old boy in India has been admitted to hospital with serious injuries after setting himself on fire after suffering anti-gay harassment and abuse.
The teenager, who was top of his class at his school in the Madia Katra locality near the city of Agra in northern India, sustained 40% burns to his body after setting himself alight on Sunday (January 3) with diesel which he had stolen from a car, the Times of India reports.
The incident took place near the city of Agra in northern India
Neighbours reportedly rushed to the boy’s aid as he ran out of his bedroom engulfed in flames, pouring water on him and wrapping him up in a blanket. He was admitted to private hospital in the city, where doctors confirmed he had received severe burns to his legs and chest.
The boy reportedly resorted to the extreme measure after being caught “getting intimate” with a male friend in a local park a few days before, after which he was subjected to a torrent of anti-gay abuse.
“The news spread and a some people started teasing and harassing him,” the boy’s father said. “Upset, he locked himself in the room for two days. He suddenly ran outside the house on Sunday afternoon and set himself afire by pouring diesel on himself.”
Of his son’s current condition, he added: “He is unable to speak properly. The doctors say he is out of danger but I will only believe it when my son will talk to me.”
The youngest of five siblings, friends say that the boy was a bright and promising student who hope to become an engineer after earning a distinction in his recent school examinations.
The incident comes just weeks after India’s Minister of Finance Arun Jaitley publicly condemned the country’s criminialisation of gay sex, saying its LGBT community could no longer be ignored.
Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code currently criminalises homosexual acts as “against the order of nature”, widely interpreted to describe acts of gay sex, and can be punished with up to 10 years in jail.
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