Deepali Singh (DNA; April 6, 2019)

Last year in September, when Section 377 was decriminalised in India, Nimrat Kaur took to Twitter and wrote ‘Equal love. Equal lives’. Now, with Brunei introducing a strict new penal code, which among other things, imposes death by stoning for adultery and gay sex, the agitated actress posted, ‘To think this a possibility makes my soul tremble. Whatever needs/can be done, must/has to be done NOW. Aghast at the mere thought... #ShameOnBrunei #NotInTheNameOfReligion’ (sic).

The actress finds her name amidst a number of international celebrities, including George Clooney, Ellen DeGeneres, Elton John and Billie Jean King, who, too, have called for a boycott of hotels owned by the Sultan of Brunei. Her tweet was also picked up by Hollywood website Deadline, which included her stand on the issue in an article.

Speaking to us from Casablanca, where she is shooting for the television show Homeland, Nimrat said, “I read this piece of news and it just felt like the most outrageous thing I have read in recent times. It’s a direct human rights violation to pass a law that allows one to be punished to death because of their sexual orientation or anything for that matter in this kind of manner. It’s unthinkable in this day and age.”

Nimrat, who re-tweeted Ellen’s post about the boycott of the hotels, said it was the least she could do. “It’s a very small thing but at least, it’s something by way of which we can affect the economic privileges that are enjoyed by the person who has passed such a law. I don’t intend to contribute to his economy,” she added.

The performer, who has always come out in support of the LGBTQ community, believes that one has the right to live the way they want to as long as it does not harm another human being. “Tomorrow, somebody will stand and have a problem with what people wear and pass a law against that. There is no end to something like this. This can’t be the world we are living in. There are far bigger issues that are harmful to this planet or the society we live in,” she stated.