Indian official questions right of High Court to decrminalise gay sex

A senior government lawyer has said it “may not be proper” for the Delhi High Court to overturn a colonial-era law that bans “unnatural sex” in India.

Last month the High Court in Delhi finished hearing arguments in a suit brought by gay rights activists seeking to overturn Section 377.

Chief Justice AP Shah reserved judgement and asked both sides to submit transcripts of their arguments.

The government of India wants to retain Section 377. It was enacted in 1860 under the British Raj in line with the anti-sodomy laws in England at the time.

It punishes anyone who “voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal” by imprisonment and criminalises a whole range of sexual acts from mutual masturbation, to fellatio and anal sex.

See Indian official questions right of High Court to decrminalise gay sex