Dr PK Gupta thought homosexuality was a ‘genetic mental disorder’
The Delhi High Court in India has ordered a doctor who allegedly gave gay and lesbian people electric shocks to convert them to face it.
The court summoned Dr PK Gupta to face charges of violating norms and contravening the Indian Medical Council Act.
Gupta allegedly used electric shocks and hormone therapy to convert gay people, according to Outlook India.
He labelled homosexuality as a ‘genetic mental disorder’.
The Delhi Medical Council (DMC) disbarred Gupta for practicing conversion therapy in 2016. But he allegedly continued to practice.
Conversion therapy is the medically discredited practice of using psychological or medical treatments to try and ‘convert’ them from homosexuality.
Gupta will now face the High Court and if found guilty could face a year in jail.
‘It is amply clear that the legislature in its prudence and vision did not thought sexual orientation to be part of mental illness,’ said Metropolitan Magistrate Abhilash Malhotra.
‘Accordingly, it is clear that the treatment given by the doctors as a part of ‘conversion therapy’ is not recognized either by the medicine or by the legislation.’
India decriminalized homosexuality in September which the court mentioned in its summons.
One of India’s leading LGBTI organizations, the Naz Foundation, complained to the DMC about doctors who practiced conversion therapy. It singled out Gupta for using hormones, electric shocks and other medical treatments claiming to convert ‘homosexuals into heterosexuals’.
by Shannon Power
Source – Gay Star News
