Section 377: Cabinet to take final call on govt stand

Section 377: Cabinet to take final call on govt stand
NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet will take a final call on decriminalising homosexuality as a ministerial panel set up to formulate the government’s response to Delhi high court legalising gay sex decided to put the matter before it as early as possible.

Sources said the law ministry would prepare a detailed note — explaining the HC ruling — for the Cabinet which will decide the government stand when the matter comes up before the Supreme Court on September 14. The three-member panel of law minister Veerappa Moily, home minister P Chidambaram and health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad met on Tuesday and “critically analysed” the pros and cons of the HC judgment.

“We have analysed the judgment with full objectivity — what the judgment had said and what it had not said. Section 377 was not sought to be abrogated. Section 377 remains. The only question is decriminalisation of private consensual sex between two adults,” Moily told reporters after the meeting.

He said the ministers were of the opinion that the matter would have to be presented before the Union Cabinet.

The SC, while hearing a PIL on the matter, had asked the government to present its stand on the issue and posted the matter for September 14. “So, having analysed the judgment, we are placing it before the Cabinet and will ask the Cabinet to take a decision,” Chidambaram said.

He said the HC had read down Section 377 in a manner that it was consistent with Article 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution. Chidambaram said there was a lot of misinformation about what the HC judgment had held. “One example is that the judgment has struck down Section 377, that is not correct,” he said. This was the second meeting of the three ministers, Moily said, adding, “We have not given any value judgment on the ruling.”

Law secretary T K Vishwanath briefed the ministers on the issue in the meeting.

The SC had on July 20 declined to pass an interim order to stay the HC verdict. The apex court said it would wait for the government to come out with a definite stand on the issue.