Even before the high court legalised homosexuality, the Centre had been contemplating reviewing its stance vis-a-vis the affidavits filed by the ministries of home and health before the court in this case.
The possibility of a change in the thinking of the UPA-II government on the contentious issue was reflected in home minister P Chidambaram’s implied admission on Wednesday that the new set of the ruling coalition government could bring in “new thinking” on the subject. He was responding to whether the Centre would stick to its stand of maintaining status quo on IPC section 377, as conveyed to the court through the affidavits.
Chidambaram said PM Manmohan Singh had directed him, health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and law minister Veerappa Moily to sort out the issue.
In the previous UPA government the ministries had concurred to oppose any change in section 377. The home ministry had justified the section and stated that Indian society could not accept this kind of behaviour. The health ministry had opposed change on the plea that the subject should be dealt with in view of the grave danger posed by the spread of AIDS. The judgment could become an alibi for the Centre to change its views.
Comments