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New Delhi:
The government Thursday refrained from taking a view on the Delhi
High Court's ruling decriminalising gay sex, and said it was for the
Supreme Court to rule on the appropriateness of the verdict.
"The cabinet considered the report of the group of ministers and
decided to ask the attorney general to assist the Supreme Court in
every way desired in arriving at an opinion on the (Delhi) high
court judgment," Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni
said.
She was briefing reporters after a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime
Minister Manomohan Singh here Thursday.
On Aug 17, the Supreme Court had sought the central government's
stand on decriminalising gay sex between consenting adults after
lawsuits challenged the Delhi High Court's July 2 verdict.
In the historic ruling, the Delhi High Court had quoted Jawaharlal
Nehru to emphasise that the constitution guaranteed equal rights to
all citizens.
The Supreme Court had refused to suspend the high court verdict
after Attorney General Goolam E. Vahanvati indicated the
government's lack of keenness in seeking a stay on the ruling.
Soni fielded a barrage of questions on the divisive issue, including
one on whether the government was taking the soft way out, saying:
"I don't think you can take that viewpoint."
She also refused to answer a question on whether a cabinet note,
drawn up on the basis of the group of ministers meeting that had
stated there was no "legal error" in the Delhi High Court verdict
that also partly scrapped the penal provisions against homosexuality
framed during the British Raj.
"The GoM (group of ministers) report is restricted to the cabinet,"
the minister maintained.
The home ministry, she said, would be issuing a statement on the
issue.
The question was to have been discussed at a cabinet meeting Sep 10
but was not taken up in the absence of Home Minister P. Chidambaram,
who was then in the US.
The high court decision has been challenged in the Supreme Court,
which had July 9 sought the respective stands of the union and the
Delhi governments.
A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan issued notices to the two
governments, besides seven others, on a lawsuit filed by Delhi-based
astrologer-cum-advocate Suresh Kaushal and sought the respondents'
replies by July 20.
At the July 20 hearing, Vahanvati said: "There are three ministries
involved in the matter. We need some more time to formulate our
view."
"We don't exactly want a stay," Vahanvati added.
Defined as unnatural sex under section 377 of the Indian Penal Code,
1860, homosexuality was punishable with imprisonment up to life.
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