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ShareNew Delhi: After the Delhi high court's reading down of section 377 to decriminalise homosexuality, the ball is in the Union government's court.
Although legal experts are not clear about whether a parliamentary amendment to section 377 is necessary to execute the judgment, Union home minister P Chidambaram has declared that his ministry's stand -- incorporated in the affidavit to the HC -- is unchanged.
The reach of section 377 will be decided on after a meeting of the law, home and health ministers, but the home ministry may wait and watch, hoping that either BJP leader BP Singhal -- a party to the HC's proceedings -- or someone else aggrieved by the verdict would appeal against it.
The home ministry, which could be an aggrieved party, had affirmed before the HC that "the provision is necessary as its deletion would well open the floodgates of delinquent behaviour and could be misconstrued as providing an unfettered licence for homosexuality".
A lawyer who appeared in the case said an application could be filed before the HC bench (that passed the order) seeking a review as the judgment ignored arguments by "anti-unnatural sex" lawyers.
On whether the judgment, if not challenged, would be binding on all states because IPC is a central law, he said the HC has stated the government should make the required amendment to the law.
