Daijiworld Media Network
New Delhi, Dec 15: When the Supreme Court announced its verdict on the gay rights issue, by reverting the 2009 ruling and upheld Section 377, thereby criminalising homosexuality and declaring it illegal, the BJP seems to have celebrated the decision. The BJP also said that the issue was not a political one and instead a social one. The BJP welcomed the decision and party Chief Rajnath Singh said that they would not support an unnatural act such as homosexuality. The party would remain in favour of section 377. Yogi Adityanath, BJP MP, Gorakhpur, said he welcomed this verdict and would oppose any attempt to change it.
The Congress on the other hand had many of its top leaders such as Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Minister for Law and Justice, Kapil Sibal who proclaimed the verdict 'regressive and extremely disappointing'. Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi said about the previous judgement that the High Court had attempted to abolish an archaic, represssive and unjust law that infringed on the basic human rights enshrined in the Constitution. Many have speculated that the support extended by the Congress as well the opposition they proclaim against the SC ruling could be their bid to play it safe in lieu of the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections, 2014.
The Supreme Court had passed a ruling that made gay-sex illegal and punishable offence in the country. It upheld Section 377 and reverted the ruling issued by the High Court earlier that had decriminalised homosexuality, by stating that such an act could incur up to 10 years of imprisonment for all parties involved. The decision was fervidly opposed by the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) community and the Coalition for Sex Workers and Sexual Minorities Rights (CSMR). They were very disappointed that the highest judiciary in the country did not hold a liberal view on their choice of lifestyle. Crowds of Gay activists waving rainbow flags and chanting slogans for freedom, gathered in downtown Delhi to voice their disapproval of the verdict.
Justice G S Singhvi said that the ball now lay in the court of the Parliament to legislate on the issue. Religious groups across the nation too welcomed the decision. Mujtaba Farooq, president of the Welfare Party of India, a Delhi-based Muslim political group said that the very idea was an influence of the West. Harish Iyer, an equal rights activist said that the court could proclaim gay-sex to be illegal but it could not take away the fact that people were born that way or inclined towards being homosexual. While many countries have striven to make their laws more accommodating to the needs of their people, India seems to have sided with the Middle-East and African countries which too have proclaimed homosexuality as a criminal offense making it punishable by death.