Indian court rules to decriminalise gay sex

[Andy]

The Delhi High Court today ruled that a ban on gay sex between adults violates India's constitution.

Section 377 was enacted in 1860 under the British Raj, in line with the anti-sodomy laws in England at the time.

It punishes anyone who "voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal" by imprisonment and criminalises a whole range of sexual acts from mutual masturbation, to fellatio and anal sex.

Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice S Muralidahr said the ban violated fundamental human rights.

The ruling said: "In the Indian Constitution, the right to live with dignity and the right of privacy both are recognised as dimensions of Article 21. Section 377 IPC denies a person's dignity and criminalises his or her core identity solely on account of his or her sexuality and thus violates Article 21 of the Constitution. As it stands, Section 377 IPC denies a gay person a right to full personhood which is implicit in notion of life under Article 21 of the Constitution."

The decision was made in response to a case filed by Naz Foundation India. The ruling can still be opposed by the government.

The health ministry has called for the ban to be scrapped, saying it hampered efforts to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS in the country. However, the home ministry opposed the move, saying that gay sex is the product of "a perverse mind".

Human Rights Watch has welcomed the decision. LGBT director Scott Long said: "This legal remnant of British colonialism has been used to deprive people of their basic rights for too long. This long-awaited decision testifies to the reach of democracy and rights in India."

[marshlander]

At last! But there is a way to go yet. The clerics are mounting a campaign for no such change in the law. However, this is a step forward.

[fredv3b]

Can someone answer me this question? Assuming that appeals against this ruling are unsuccessful does it automatically wipe the law from the statue book or send the matter to the Indian Parliament or something else? If the matter is sent to the Indian Parliament, is it compelled to do anything and in what time scale or could it just sit on the matter?

Good News all the same though

[Rychard the Lionheart]

Indian Prime Minister Singh Resists Pressure from Catholic Lead Group To Recriminalize Homosexuality.

It is not that “we” oppose homosexuality. “We” just do not think that it should be decriminalized because it will lead to cases of sexually transmitted disease. That is the position of a group of interfaith leaders being represented by Archbishop of Dehli Vincent M Concessao when they met with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week.

While the group is being labeled interfaith, the reality is that is appears to be predominated by Christians as Archbishop Concessao has, apparently, indicated in the negative with regards to consultation with clergy of other faiths. According to Archbishop Concessao, all religions are against homosexuality. Unfortunately for him not all faiths and even not all denominations within Christianity see homosexuality as being wrong. In fact, this 5 December, in a round table discussion coordinated between the National Council of Churches in India or NCCI, SCEPTRE, CISRS, and SCMI, came together to issue a statement regarding homosexuality and issued a statement. (statement can be viewed, together with the full article from the following link.
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

Another attack by the catholic church.