India: Hindu group congratulates Supreme Court for banishing homosexuality as ‘imported disease’

A right-wing Hindu group in India has congratulated the Supreme Court for its “historic”, decision to reinstate a ban on gay sex.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), congratulated the decision of the Supreme court to last week reinstate Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which bans gay sex.

VHP went on to call homosexuality as an “imported disease”, saying it needed treatment.

A message was sent to President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying the government should also ban alcohol and make moral education mandatory, saying homosexuality was “against Indian culture and values.”

Last week, the Supreme Court in India ruled to reinstate Section 377 of the penal code, which bans gay sex.

LGBT campaigners in India and around the world reacted with shock at the ruling.

A protest took place on Sunday in London against the Indian Supreme Court’s decision to reinstate a ban on gay sex.

UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has said he is “personally saddened” that India’s Supreme Court has reinstated the ban.

Dr Purna Sen, former Head of Human Rights at the Commonwealth Secretariat and chair of the Kaleidoscope Trust, said: “The Supreme Court’s ruling is a terrible setback for the struggle to secure equal rights for LGBT people, not just in India, but in many of the Commonwealth countries that still enforce colonial era restrictions on the liberties of LGBT people.”

• Dec 01 2023

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