Word: sectionals
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...highly anticipated Supreme Court ruling, the 1965 Voting Rights Act survived a legal challenge that many analysts expected to topple the landmark civil rights law. The court's 8-to-1 decision sidestepped the core constitutional issues in question, keeping intact a key provision of the statute. That measure, Section 5, requires all or parts of 16 states deemed to have a history of racial discrimination to seek federal clearance before changing voting procedures. Critics call the requirement outdated; defenders insist the scrutiny is still needed...
...India's British rulers, but the most stubborn opposition to repealing it in India has come from those who argue that homosexuality goes against traditional Indian sensibilities. In July 2001, according to a report last year by Human Rights Watch, four HIV/AIDS outreach workers were arrested under Section 377 for distributing medical literature; a judge denied them bail, accusing them of "polluting the entire society." In 2003, the Indian Home Ministry - then under the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party - argued that it "responded to the values and mores of the time in the Indian society." Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahli...
...strong, is not a valid basis for overriding individuals' fundamental rights of dignity and privacy. In our scheme of things Constitutional morality must outweigh the argument of public morality, even if it be the majoritarian view," the court said in its ruling. Going even further, the court found that Section 377 went against the Indian tradition and guiding political principle of inclusiveness...
...Versions of Section 377 - often identified by the same three digits - exist throughout the former British colonies of Asia and Africa, and there is some hope among activists in the region that today's ruling will help efforts elsewhere. Nepal has already overturned the law, but as the largest country in South Asia, India's repeal effort has been watched especially closely. "We have had a very progressive leadership, and I sincerely hope that the Indian decision will help us in the right direction," says Sahran Abeysundera, a gay rights activist in Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital. As in India...
...case overturning India's Section 377 took years; activists elsewhere realize they have a long road ahead. "There will not be any immediate change here because of the Indian decision," Rosanna Flamer-Caldera, executive director of Equal Ground, a gay rights group in Sri Lanka. "Things don't work like that, we have to keep working and advocating constantly." The Indian High Court has given them one more rallying cry. - With reporting by Amantha Perera / Colombo and Delwar Hussain / Dhaka...