New Delhi, Feb. 7: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to allow the defence forces to be drawn into a case seeking a review of the so-called homosexuality law. The top court was reviewing the validity of the Delhi HC order of 2009 which decriminalised IPC Section 377 to the extent that it applied to relationships between consenting adults.
Terming the move as “not necessary,” a bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and A.K. Ganguly rejected a plea for impleading the three forces as the parties.
The petition for arraigning the armed forces as parties to the case was moved by Mr Suresh Kumar Koushal, who was one of the original petitioners before the HC. Mr Koushal stated that the top brass of the defence forces had taken a stand “contrary” to the verdict in the context of its implications for the forces.
He had quoted the statement of former Army Chief made in Chennai on July 9, 2009, that “no armed force in the world has legalised homosexuality as in an institution like Army it can have adverse consequences.”
Another senior Army officer was quoted as saying that “any legalisation of homosexuality would adversely impact inter-personal relations in the forces.”