ST: Homosexual acts: No change in actual Indian law

6 July 2009
Straits Times

Homosexual acts: No change in actual Indian law 

By Sue-Ann Chia 

EVEN though the Delhi High Court has ruled that an Indian law outlawing homosexual acts is unconstitutional, the actual law itself has not changed, Law Minister K. Shanmugam pointed out yesterday.

‘It is a court-interpreted decision. It wasn’t a change of the law by the government,’ he explained at a dialogue with Punggol Central residents.

He was responding to a question from grassroots leader Khartini Khalid on whether a similar Singapore law – Section 377A of the Penal Code – would be repealed following India’s move.

CNA: Singapore won’t repeal homosexual law

Source

By Hoe Yeen Nie, Channel NewsAsia

Posted: 05 July 2009 2015 hrs

SINGAPORE: Law Minister K Shanmugam has said Singapore will not decriminalise gay sex but the courts have the power to decide how the law, Section 377, is applied. Section 377A of the Penal Code deems sex between men a crime.

A recent ruling by the New Delhi High Court legalising gay sex between consenting adults in India raised questions on whether Singapore might go the same way. Both countries share the same Penal Code, inherited from the colonial British.

ST: Delhi ruling a victory for gays

5 July 2009
Sunday Times

Delhi ruling a victory for gays 

by P. Jayaram, India Correspondent 

Exactly a decade ago when homosexuality was still a very hush-hush affair in India, more than a dozen men staged a march in Calcutta (now known as Kolkata), the teeming eastern metropolis.

The rag-tag bunch, wearing yellow T-shirts with the words ‘Walk on the Rainbow’, simply wanted to visit officials, judges, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and anyone who mattered to tell them ‘what we were all about’.

Today: Gay sex now legal in New Delhi

3 July 2009
Today
Source

Gay sex now legal in New Delhi

NEW DELHI – New Delhi’s highest court issued a landmark ruling yesterday that decriminalised gay sex between consenting adults in India by declaring a colonial-era ban on homosexuality unconstitutional.

The decision by the Delhi High Court was hailed by gay activists here as a historic step in their struggle to achieve equal rights in the deeply conservative country.

ST: Delhi court legalises homosexual acts

3 July 2009
Straits Times (Top stories)

Delhi court legalises homosexual acts

In a landmark decision, British colonial-era law is overturned 
By P. Jayaram, India Correspondent 

NEW DELHI: A court yesterday ruled that homosexual acts between consenting adults are legal in India.

The ruling overturned a British colonial era law similar to the one on Singapore’s books that classifies same-sex practices as criminal offences. They were punishable by up to 10 years in prison in India.

The landmark judgment by the Delhi High Court was hailed by the country’s gay community but drew fire from religious leaders.

NYT: Indian Court Overturns Gay Sex Ban

2 July 2009
New York Times

Indian Court Overturns Gay Sex Ban

By HEATHER TIMMONS and HARI KUMAR
 
NEW DELHI —In a landmark ruling Thursday that could usher in an era of greater freedom for gay men and lesbians in India, New Delhi’s highest court decriminalized homosexuality.

“The inclusiveness that Indian society traditionally displayed, literally in every aspect of life, is manifest in recognizing a role in society for everyone,” judges of the Delhi High Court wrote in a 105-page decision, India’s first to directly address rights for gay men and lesbians. “Those perceived by the majority as ‘deviants’ or ‘different’ are not on that score excluded or ostracized,” the decision said.

Indian Express: Delhi HC legalises gay sex

2 July 2009
Indian Express
Source

Historic judgment: Delhi HC legalises gay sex

In a breakthrough judgment, the Delhi High Court on Thursday legalised gay sex among consenting adults holding that the law making it a criminal offence violates fundamental rights.

However, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalises homosexuality, will continue for non-consensual and non-vaginal sex.

“We declare section 377 of IPC in so far as it criminalises consensual sexual acts of adults in private is violative of Articles 14, 21 and 15 of the Constitution,” a Bench comprising Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice S Murlidhar said.

The High Court said ‘the provision of section 377 IPC will continue to govern non-consensual penile non-vaginal sex and penile non vaginal sex involving minors’.

TOI: Delhi High Court legalizes homosexuality

2 July 2009
The Times of India
Source
Delhi High Court legalizes homosexuality
 
NEW DELHI: In a historic judgement, the Delhi High Court on Thursday decriminalized homosexuality by reading down section 377 of the Indian Penal 
Code.

The Section 377 of the IPC as far as it criminalizes gay sex among consenting adults is violation of fundamental rights, said the high court. However, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalizes homosexuality, will continue for non-consensual and non-vaginal sex.

DNA: It is queer to give in to religious demands

1 July 2009
DNA  Magazine (India)
Source

It is queer to give in to religious demands

By Antara Dev Sen

We have such a queer government. Last year it fought itself, as the home ministry opposed the health ministry’s attempt to decriminalise homosexuality. Then last week, right before the gay pride march, the two ministries seemed to bury their differences and cosy up as the law minister hinted at changing the archaic law. And this week it has hastily retraced its footsteps, announcing that if indeed there is a change in law it would happen only after a parliamentary debate and discussions with religious leaders.

TOI: India’s Section 377 may go

28 June 2009
Times of India
Source

A first for gay pride in India? Sec 377 may go

NEW DELHI: The government is planning to repeal the law that criminalizes homosexuality. The home ministry, which has consistently opposed any 
change in Section 377 of the IPC that treats private consensual intercourse between same-sex adults as a crime, now appears to have changed its stand.

Home minister P Chidambaram is learnt to have expressed an opinion that favours the repeal of Section 377 to his officials. This is in stark contrast to his predecessor Shivraj Patil, who doggedly refused to make any changes in the 150-year-old law, introduced in India by the British, and junked by the UK 40 years ago.