Gay sex verdict: Govt considers options, Sonia disappointed with SC ruling

 

New Delhi, 12 Dec 2013 (PTI): With the Supreme Court order on gay sex creating a major uproar, the government on Thursday said it is considering all options to decriminalize homosexuality and filing a curative petition in the apex court could be one of them.

 

"The government is considering all options to restore the (Delhi) high court verdict on (Section) 377 (of IPC). We must decriminalize adult consensual relationships," law minister Kapil Sibal said.

 

Finance minister P Chidambaram said the Supreme Court ruling was "wrong" and all options would be looked at to set right the Supreme Court order.

 

Terming the judgment "disappointing", he said the court should have applied "current social and moral values" in the case.

 

He said the government should file a review or curative petition and that the matter should be heard by a five-bench judge.

 

Chidambaram, the former home minister, said the Delhi high court judgment was a "well-researched one" which the Union government accepted and did not challenge in the Supreme Court.

 

He added that the government’s decision of not opposing the high court judgment in the Supreme Court was also his party’s view.

 

Chidambaram noted that the bench that gave the order, should have referred the matter to a five-judge bench and that the interpretation of law cannot be static.

 

Sonia disappointed over SC verdict on gay rights issue

 

Amid an uproar over the Supreme Court verdict on gay rights issue, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Thursday said she was disappointed that the apex court and hoped Parliament would address the matter.

 

"I hope that Parliament will address the issue and uphold the constitutional guarantee of life and liberty to all citizens of India, including those directly affected by the judgement," the UPA Chairperson said.

 

Gandhi said that she was "disappointed" that the Supreme Court has reversed a previous Delhi high court ruling on the issue of gay rights but also noted that the Supreme Court also suggested another course.

 

She was obviously alluding to the option of legislation.

 

"The high court had widely removed an archaic repressive and unjust law that infringed on the basic human rights enshrined in our Constitution.

 

"This Constitution has given us a great legacy, a legacy of liberalism and openness, that enjoin us to combat prejudice and discrimination of any kind," the Congress President said in a statement.

 

She said, "We are proud that our culture has always been an inclusive and tolerant one".

 

In a big blow to the LGBT community, the Supreme Court had yesterday set aside the landmark high court judgment decriminalizing gay sex and threw the ball in Parliament’s court for amending law.