A day after the Supreme Court delivered a blow to gay rights by declaring homosexuality to be a crime, a disappointed Government promised quick action. UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi indicated that the option of bringing an amendment in the law was still open.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday held Section 377 to be constitutionally valid, thereby setting aside a Delhi High Court verdict which termed it unconstitutional.
The court, however, left it to the Centre to either repeal Section 377 of IPC or add a proviso to legitimise consensual sex between consenting adults in private.
Reacting to the verdict, Union law Minister Kapil Sibal said: “Time is of the essence. We must decriminalise adult consensual relationships.”
When asked whether the Centre would appeal the Supreme Court’s judgement or draft an amendment to the law, he said: “One of the options could be to bring it to Parliament at the earliest. The other opinion is to approach the Supreme Court or take any other route. We will adopt the approach which will give us quick results.”
The firmness and swiftness in the Government’s move was understandable since Sonia Gandhi too expressed “disappointment” on the verdict. Terming Section 377 as “archaic, repressive and unjust law” infringing on basic human rights, a statement issued by the Congress President said: “The Constitution has given us a great legacy, a legacy of liberalism and openness that enjoins us to combat prejudice and discrimination of any kind.” She noted that the Supreme Court also suggested another course, an obvious allusion to the option of legislation.
Earlier in the day, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi also trashed the verdict. Being of the opinion, “Homosexuality is a matter of personal freedom,” the Gandhi scion sided with the Delhi High Court verdict. “I personally feel these are matters of personal freedom...these types of matters should be left to individuals. These are their choices. The country is known for its freedom of expression. That is what I think,” he said.
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Amid clear opposition by the Centre to the SC verdict, the Opposition preferred to adopt a wait-and-watch policy.
leader of Opposition in lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, when pressed for a comment, said: “It is only after seeing what the Government intends to do in Parliament on the issue, will I speak out.”
She maintained that any move to bring in legislation would require consensus among all parties.
The Government’s strong resolve to bat in favour of gay rights activists threw a surprise, as while appearing in the HC and SC, the Ministry of Home Affairs opposed any attempt by the court to decide on constitutionality of Section 377, claiming that the Parliament which represented the will of the people had so far decided not to delete the same from the statute book.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who then was the Home Minister, joined the chorus to decry the SC verdict as “wrong” and “disappointing”, suggesting that the court should have applied “current social and moral values” in the case. He suggested that the Government should file a review or curative petition to be heard by a five-bench judge.
When asked why the Government did not carry out an amendment in view of the Delhi HC order, he said “there was no occasion to amend the section” since Delhi HC limited itself to consenting adults having sex in private. Moreover, the case was pending in Supreme Court, he added.
Sibal further added: “I think these laws must be reversed as the contemporary world does not accept the values of the 19th Century….I don’t think we should expose those millions (lGBT population) to IPC Section 377 and we are very firm about this.”