India’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will not oppose the July 2 judgment of the Delhi High Court striking down provisions in Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that criminalised same-gender, consensual sex, the Indian Express reports on Wednesday.
The report quoted sources as saying that the Union Law Ministry is expected to circulate a memorandum at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday to seek the Cabinet’s agreement to the MHA’s decision not to contest the landmark Delhi High Court judgment and for the Supreme Court to decide on the issue.
“There is nothing wrong, legally, with the judgment. It is a well-reasoned judgment. There is no purpose in opposing it. The government would like the Supreme Court, where appeals against the HC decision are pending, to decide the matter,” the paper quoted an unnamed senior Law Ministry official as saying.
When the high court first heard the case in May last year, former Home Minister Shivraj Patil and the law ministries had taken an opposing stance from the health ministry which supported the decriminalisation saying that the law has hindered HIV education and outreach programmes.
After the General Election in April and May 2009, the three newly appointed Home Minister P Chidambaram, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Law Minister M Veerappa Moily were reportedly instructed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to come to an agreement on the matter.
To date, eight parties have filed petitions to have the high court’s decision overturned by the Supreme Court.
Fridae has learned from Vikram Doctor, who is tracking the cases closely, that opponents include TV astrologer Suresh Kumar Koushal, SK Tijarawala (said to be yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s spokesperson), Bhim Singh, B. Krishna Bhat, B.P. Singhal, S.D. Pratinidhi Sabha & Anr, Ram Murti and the Apostolic Churches Alliance.
“The Supreme Court case has become a bit of a circus with a whole bunch of people, mostly religiously connected, falling over themselves to file petitions opposing the Delhi High Court verdict,” Doctor told Fridae.
Baba Ramdev had earlier spoken out against the ruling saying that yoga and breathing exercises can cure homosexuality.
B.P.Singhal, who has intervened in the high court hearing last year by hiring a lawyer to argue against decriminalisation, is known to be affiliated with Hindu rightwing groups.
Doctor has also noted that the language used by the Apostolic Churches Alliance spokesman who was quoted in the Times of India that reminiscent of the evangelicals and the ex-gay movement.
Describing his group as an “alliance of Christian independent churches,” spokesperson Sam Varghese, pastor of Life Fellowship, a church in the southern city of Trivandrum, said that homosexuals, who practice a “perversion of god's order,” are not immutable.
“They can be made straight. God can help them. We are willing to help them.” He added that he knows of men who have been helped to overcome their temporary deviance to lead “normal, married” lives.
Although lawyers and activists involved are happy with the government’s support of the original verdict, Doctor told Fridae that they are tracking the petitions closely as parties are expected to come out of the woodwork to file petitions seeking to overturn the high court ruling.
“We had got an indication this was possible when the government did not ask the Supreme Court to stay the Delhi High Court verdict, but we knew there was resistance from some members of the government. But the saner voices seem to have prevailed, and this is a really important signal to the Supreme Court on how the government would like this case to proceed.”
In July, the Supreme Court’s announced that it would temporarily allow the ruling to remain in effect despite the petitions filed against it while it waited for the government to come out with a definite stand on the issue.