Supreme Court rules homosexuality is a crime. Archbishop of Mumbai: Gays are not criminals
Mumbai (AsiaNews)
- The Supreme Court of India has restored the law banning homosexuality as a
"crime against nature". The
nation's highest court has overturned a decision taken by the High Court of
Delhi in 2009, which had decriminalized homosexual acts. The
immediate reaction from gay rights activists was to lay the blame at the door
of Islamic, Christian and Hindu religious associations accusing them of having
lobbied to reintroduce the norm. However, speaking to AsiaNews Card. Oswald
Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai and president of the Episcopal Conference of
India, said that " the Catholic Church has never been opposed to the
decriminalization of homosexuality, because we have never considered gay people
criminals."
On
2 July 2009, the Delhi High Court had repudiated sect. 377
(unnatural offenses) of the Indian Penal Code - a law dating back to the
British colonial period - by establishing that sexual relations in private between
two consenting adults was not a criminal offense. Until
then, two homosexuals could be sentenced to 10 years in prison, or to life
imprisonment in cases deemed particularly serious.
The
issue was reopened by BP Singhal, senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Hindu ultra-nationalist party),
which has filed an appeal at the Supreme Court against the verdict, stating
that "such acts are illegal, immoral and contrary to the ethos of the
culture Indian".
"As
Christians - reaffirms Card. Gracias to AsiaNews
- we express our full respect for homosexuals. The Catholic Church is opposed
to the legalization of gay marriage, but teaches that homosexuals have the
same dignity of every human being and condemns all forms of unjust
discrimination, harassment or abuse."
.png)
