After the Supreme Court decriminalised Section 377 on Thursday, a leading Muslim organisation called Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind said homosexuality is against nature, religion and cultural values.

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Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind's General Secretary Maulana Mahmood Madani said, "Homosexuality is against nature, religion and cultural values of India. It should not have been allowed."

"A process which affects the growth of society cannot be termed right by calling it freedom. Homosexuals have been here since ages, but in the religious texts, homosexuality has been described as an act of rebellion against the laws of nature," he said.

Consensual sex among adult homosexuals or heterosexuals in private space is not a crime, the Supreme Court unanimously held on Thursday, as it struck down part of a British-era law that criminalised it on the grounds that it violated the constitutional right to equality and dignity.

The path-breaking judgment held that Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that criminalised consensual gay sex was "irrational, indefensible and manifestly arbitrary".

While a constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said the 158-year old law had become an "odious weapon" to harass the LGBT community by subjecting them to discrimination and unequal treatment, a judge also said that history owed an apology to the community and their families for the delay in providing redressal for the "ignominy" and "ostracism" they have faced through the centuries.

It said Section 377 was a product of Victorian-era morality and there was no reason to continue with it as it enforced Victorian morale on the citizens of the country.

While concluding the historic 493-page verdict, Chief Justice Dipak Misra, who headed the constitution bench, said it was time to move from "darkness to light" to herald a New India which would be a more inclusive society.

"Section 377 IPC, so far as it criminalises even consensual sexual acts between competent adults, fails to make a distinction between non-consensual and consensual sexual acts of competent adults in private space, which are neither harmful nor contagious to the society.

"Section 377 IPC subjects the LGBT community to societal pariah and dereliction and is, therefore, manifestly arbitrary, for it has become an odious weapon for the harassment of the LGBT community by subjecting them to discrimination and unequal treatment. Therefore, ... Section 377 IPC is liable to be partially struck down for being violative of Article 14 of the Constitution," the five-judge constitution bench said.

The bench, which also comprised Justices R F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra, held that the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) community possess the same constitutional rights as any other citizen and part of Section 377, which prohibits sexual relationship between consenting adults of the same sex, is violative of the right to equality and the right to live with dignity.

However, the apex court clarified that non-consensual gay sex or sexual activity with an animal or a child will continue to invite penal liability under Section 377 of the IPC and would remain a criminal offence.

The CJI, who along with Justice Khanwilkar, penned the main judgement, termed sexual orientation as a "biological phenomenon" and "natural" and held that any discrimination on this ground was violative of the fundamental rights.