Source: Hindu, ZeeNews, Express India, Guardian 
New Delhi -- India's High Court in Delhi on Thursday refuted a contention by a conservative religious group and a senior government minister that gay sex causes bodily injury, directing them again to substantiate their claim.

Despite strong words refuting claims of the anti-gay officials, the court reserved its verdict on petitions filed by gay rights activists seeking decriminalization of homosexual acts among consenting adults in private.

"In several countries where the ban has been lifted (from gay sex), no one has claimed that the act is injurious. Even the World Health Organization (WHO) does not say that it causes injuries to people involved in such acts," the bench said.

The court is in the last stages of deciding a challenge to Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. This law, a British colonial invention, criminalizes "carnal intercourse against the order of nature". Human rights activists want it reinterpreted to end the criminalization of adult, consensual homosexual conduct.

The petitioners argued that the criminal provision against homosexual behavior should be scrapped for consenting adults who indulge in such acts in private.

They contended that Section 377, which provides punishment up to life imprisonment, violates fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution.

India's ruling coalition, called the Centre, opposed the petition saying that such behavior is immoral and cannot be allowed in Indian society.

BP Singhal, leader of the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) which is part of the ruling coalition, was criticized again by the division bench headed by Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice S Muralidhar who were hearing a petition filed by Naz foundation to strip out the anti-gay sections of the law.

"Do you have any material to substantiate the claim that indulgence in such acts causes injury to people's body?” the bench asked the Singhal's representative.

Advocate HV Sharma, appearing for the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) -- a conservative Hindu religious group closely associated with BHP -- could not place any material before the court to substantiate its claims, saying that no such study had been conducted in India.

"Human being are same everywhere," the court remarked, asking Sharma to place before it any report which supports his contentions.

The justices directed VHP to file their response in the matter by next Monday.

Source: Gay rights: HC reserves verdict | The Hindu 
Gay sex doesn't cause bodily injury: HC | Express India
Prove gay sex causes bodily injury, Delhi HC tells VHP | ZeeNews
Which is the real menace? | Guardian

country_india, section 377