India's ban on gay sex overturned after 150 years

LAWS dating back to the British Raj that banned gay sex have been overturned in a landmark judgment in India's capital.
The 150-year-old section 377 of India's penal code, introduced when the British ruled the subcontinent, described homosexual intercourse as "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" and imposed a 10-year jail term for offenders.
The Delhi High Court yesterday declared the laws a violation of "fundamental rights" and unconstitutional.
The decision means consensual sex between those over the age of 18 will no longer be punishable, although the court ruled that section 377 should still apply to cases of non-consensual sex and pedophilia.
The court recommended that the Indian Government amend section 377 in accordance with its ruling. However, Indian Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily responded cautiously, saying he would study the judgment before commenting.
The ruling is a big victory for India's gay rights movement, which has staged a long campaign for homosexuality to be decriminalised.
A petition seeking legalisation of homosexuality was first lodged in 2001 by Naz Foundation, an organisation that promotes sexual health. One argument put forward for decriminalising homosexuality was it would help promote the prevention of HIV/AIDS in India.
The petition, which was opposed by the Indian government, was thrown out of the Delhi High Court in 2004 but later reopened after India's Supreme Court directed that the High Court reconsider.
Tripti Tandon, one of the lawyers who brought the petition, said she hoped the Government would not appeal against the decision.
Gay activists said the judgment reaffirmed the liberal and secular nature of India's democracy.
"This is a huge milestone and a very emotional moment for so many of us," said activist Nitin Karani of the Humsafar Trust, which promotes prevention of HIV/AIDS among gay men.
"A lot of gay people have been … too afraid to come forward to get information about their sexual and mental health because of this law. Now they will be less afraid and less inhibited."
The court's decision drew fire from Indian religious leaders.
"This is absolutely wrong," said Muslim leader Ahmed Bukhari, the imam of Delhi's Jama Mosque. "If the Government (attempts) to scrap Section 377, we will oppose it strongly."
Last year, during a hearing into the Naz Foundation's petition, a leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, or World Hindu Council, objected to gay sex on the grounds that it caused bodily injury, a claim rejected by the Delhi High Court.
Father Dominic Emmanuel, of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, said the church did not oppose the decriminalisation of homosexuality but opposed further reforms such as the legalisation of gay marriage.

Matt Wade, South Asia Correspondent, Delhi
July 3, 2009

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