Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
NEW DELHI, INDIA, 27 Jun 2009: Was Indian society tolerant of homosexuality before the colonial administration proscribed it in 1860?
On a petition pending before the Delhi high court seeking to decriminalize homosexuality, the government said in its counter affidavit that that there were “no convincing reports to indicate that homosexuality or other offenses against the order of nature mentioned in Section 377 IPC were acceptable in the Indian society prior to colonial rule.”
According to Goolam Vahanvati, attorney-general, “Around the early 19th Century, you probably know that in England they frowned on homosexuality. In 1860 when we got the Indian Penal Code, which was drafted by Lord Macaulay, they inserted Section 377 which brought in the concept of sexual offenses against the order of nature. Now in India we didn’t have this concept of something being ‘against the order of nature. It was essentially a Western concept, which has remained over the years.”
While the penalty imposed by Section 377 goes up to life sentence, there is nothing close to it in Manusmriti, the most popular Hindu law book of medieval and ancient India. Literature of that time also referred to homosexual practices with no negative bias.
Home minister P. Chidambaram is learnt to have expressed an opinion that favors the repeal of Section 377. The matter is also being taken into consideration by the health ministry and the Prime Minister.