Gay Sex Not a Crime But Needs to Be Dealt With at Psychological Level: RSS on SC Verdict on Section 377

New Delhi: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has said it supports the Supreme Court verdict on decriminalisation of gay sex but it needs to be treated at a psychological level.

Arun Kumar, the Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh of the RSS, said: “Like the Supreme Court, we also do not consider this to be a crime. Same-sex marriages are not compatible with norms of nature so we do not support such relations.”

He added, “Bharatiya society also doesn’t have the tradition to recognise such relations. Human beings generally learn from experiences, and that is why this issue needs to be taken care of at the social and psychological level.”

The statement by the RSS is similar to what Dattatreya Hosable, the organisation’s joint secretary, said in 2016 at a media event and later tweeted about. “Homosexuality is not a crime, but socially immoral act in our society. No need to punish, but to be treated as a psychological case. Gay marriage is institutionalisation of homosexuality. It should be prohibited,” he said on Twitter.

The Supreme Court on Thursday decriminalised consensual sex between homosexuals and read down Section 377 of the IPC. “The ideals of individual autonomy must be preserved. We have to bid adieu to stereotypes and prejudices. Constitutional morality must guide us all,” Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra said.

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by the CJI termed the part of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalises unnatural sex as irrational, indefensible and manifestly arbitrary.

The bench, which also comprised Justice RF Nariman, Justice AM Khanwilkar, Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Indu Malhotra, read down Section 377 as being violative of right to equality.

The top court, in four separate but concurring judgements, set aside its own verdict in the Suresh Kaushal case. Justice Chandrachud asked the medical community to sensitise itself about the rights of the LGBTQ community. Instead of trying to change what is not a disease, counsellors must wake up to these rights, it noted.