New Delhi: The Supreme Court rejected the order of Delhi High Court’s 2009 decriminalize the homosexuality as constitutionally unsustainable.
The Supreme Court today said gay sex between consenting adults remains a criminal offence, dealing a severe blow to the largely closeted homosexual community in India.
The Delhi High Court had ruled that sex between two consenting adults in private would not be an offence, by overturning a colonial-era law, the Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.
Anti-gay right activists, social and religious organizations had challenged the order of High Court.
Senior BJP leader BP Singhal, who died last year, had challenged the verdict calling it illegal, immoral and against the ethos of Indian culture.
Religious organizations such as the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Utkal Christian Council and Apostolic Churches Alliance also filed appeals against that verdict.
The Supreme Court had reserved its order in March last year, after day-to-day hearing in the case lasted an entire month.
The apex court had pulled up the Centre for its “casual” approach in dealing with homosexuality and expressed concern over Parliament not discussing such issues and instead blaming the judiciary for its alleged overreach while hearing the appeal.
It was a complete U-turn by the Centre which had strongly opposed the decriminalization of homosexuality before the High Court, calling it “unnatural, immoral and reflection of a perverse mind.”
Bureau Report
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