Protests as Indian ruling struck down

Gay rights activists took to New Delhi streets after a court quashed a 2009 ruling legalising homosexuality. Photo / AP

Gay rights activists and human rights campaigners demonstrated throughout India yesterday, after the Supreme Court overturned a ruling that legalised homosexuality.

Protesters voiced disbelief after the bench of two judges struck down a judgment by Delhi's High Court, saying it was a matter for India's Parliament to decide.

Homosexuality was made illegal more than 150 years ago, when British colonial officials deemed sexual relations between men to be "carnal acts against the order of nature" in section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.

The Indian Government continued to support the ban when it was challenged in the High Court in 2009.

In its submission, it said every citizen's right to lead a "decent and moral life in society would be violated if such behaviour is legalised".

The High Court rejected that and said the law banning homosexuality was an affront to the dignity of India's people.

Its ruling was met with jubilation by same-sex couples in the capital, New Delhi, at the time.

Vikram Seth, the author of A Suitable Boy who has written about his bisexuality, criticised the latest ruling.

"There is a barbarism in treating choices of consenting adults as a crime. I wasn't a criminal yesterday. Today I am. I intend to continue being a criminal."

According to the judgment, the High Court ruling that the law criminalising homosexuality was a breach of liberty, dignity and privacy was wrong. The Supreme Court ruled that the original appellants had failed to establish homosexuals had suffered discrimination.

Hopes the Government might take up the issue were dismissed by Suhsil Kumar Shinde, the Home Minister.

He said it was not possible to introduce new legislation because the issue "needs political consensus".

Human rights groups said the Government had failed to defend the human rights of India's gay community. "The Supreme Court's ruling is a disappointing setback to human dignity, and basic rights to privacy and non-discrimination," said Meenakshi Ganguly of Human Rights Watch.