Ruling boosts gay rights in India
Updated on 02 July 2009
The remnants of the British Raj were swept aside today after a landmark ruling declared gay sex was no longer a crime in India.
The gay rights marches are tolerated in India, but for 160 years being gay has been a crime. Though no one has ever been convicted, the notorious section 377 outlawing homosexuality has been used as a tool to threaten and repress.
Today in a landmark ruling, judges at the High Court in Delhi said the law ran counter to the notion of human dignity and should be over turned. The law dated back to 1861 which described homosexual behaviour as against the order of nature.
The verdict followed a nine year campaign by gay rights activists who hailed it as a victory with implications across the developing world.
India is not alone in having shaken off colonial rule yet still abiding by the relics of its laws. Human Rights Watch believes up to 40 former colonies in Asia and Africa still have in place anti-gay laws introduced by the British.
But this fight has been as much about public health as discrimination. Around 2.3 million people in India have HIV and Aids. Most gay men are driven underground and most are married, which is why India's health ministry helped fight to get the law over turned.
