Justice Ajit Prakash Shah, who authored the judgment that decriminalized homosexuality as Chief Justice of the Delhi high court in 2009, said that homosexuality was neither a disease nor punishable under any penal laws.
The Supreme Court had overturned the Delhi high court judgment on December 11, 2013, on grounds that only Parliament can change Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with homosexual sex. Justice Shah, now chairman of the Law Commission of India, said homosexuality is alternate sexuality and expression of love towards the same sex.
“I can only say, in another case, the same court has said that the red beacon (on vehicles) offends the dignity of citizens. If that is the case, I don’t think how (Section) 377 will not offend the dignity of a person,” Shah told students at Bharati Vidyapeeth’s New Law College (BVNLC) in Pune on Friday.
Homosexuality is not a mental illness or disease, the country’s psychiatrists said in a joint statement on Thursday. The Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS), an umbrella body for psychiatrists across the country, said this in response to the furore over its former president Dr Indira Sharma’s statement on homosexuality last month.
Dr Sharma had said, “The manner in which homosexuals have brought the talk of sex to the roads makes people uncomfortable. It’s unnatural. Our society doesn’t talk about sex. Heterosexuals don’t talk about sex. It is a private matter.’’
The lesbian-gay community had taken up the matter with the IPS. “Based on existing scientific evidence and good practice guidelines from the field of psychiatry, the Indian Psychiatric Society would like to state that there is no evidence to substantiate the belief that homosexuality is a mental illness or a disease,’’ said the statement by IPS president Dr T V Asokan and general secretary N N Raju.
The note added that the IPS would issue a detailed statement later. Dr Raju told TOI on Thursday that the majority had spoken. “Now that we have stated that homosexuality isn’t a mental illness, it’s no longer in the purview of psychiatrists,’’ he said, adding that views changed over time. “A few decades back, hypertension was considered a mental illness, and so was hyperthyroidism,’’ he said.
The Supreme Court had overturned the Delhi high court judgment on December 11, 2013, on grounds that only Parliament can change Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with homosexual sex. Justice Shah, now chairman of the Law Commission of India, said homosexuality is alternate sexuality and expression of love towards the same sex.
“I can only say, in another case, the same court has said that the red beacon (on vehicles) offends the dignity of citizens. If that is the case, I don’t think how (Section) 377 will not offend the dignity of a person,” Shah told students at Bharati Vidyapeeth’s New Law College (BVNLC) in Pune on Friday.
Homosexuality is not a mental illness or disease, the country’s psychiatrists said in a joint statement on Thursday. The Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS), an umbrella body for psychiatrists across the country, said this in response to the furore over its former president Dr Indira Sharma’s statement on homosexuality last month.
Dr Sharma had said, “The manner in which homosexuals have brought the talk of sex to the roads makes people uncomfortable. It’s unnatural. Our society doesn’t talk about sex. Heterosexuals don’t talk about sex. It is a private matter.’’
The lesbian-gay community had taken up the matter with the IPS. “Based on existing scientific evidence and good practice guidelines from the field of psychiatry, the Indian Psychiatric Society would like to state that there is no evidence to substantiate the belief that homosexuality is a mental illness or a disease,’’ said the statement by IPS president Dr T V Asokan and general secretary N N Raju.
The note added that the IPS would issue a detailed statement later. Dr Raju told TOI on Thursday that the majority had spoken. “Now that we have stated that homosexuality isn’t a mental illness, it’s no longer in the purview of psychiatrists,’’ he said, adding that views changed over time. “A few decades back, hypertension was considered a mental illness, and so was hyperthyroidism,’’ he said.
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