India’s Supreme Court on Wednesday reinstated a ban on gay sex in

India’s Supreme Court on Wednesday reinstated a ban on gay sex in the world’s largest democracy, following a four-year period of decriminalization that had helped bring homosexuality into the open in the socially conservative country.

In 2009 the Delhi High Court ruled unconstitutional a section of the penal code dating back to 1860 that prohibits “carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal” and lifted the ban for consenting adults.

The Supreme Court threw out that decision, saying only parliament could change Section 377 of the penal code, widely interpreted to refer to homosexual sex. Violation of the law can be punished with up to 10 years in jail.

The move shocked rights activists around the world, who had expected the court simply to rubber-stamp the earlier ruling. In recent years, India’s Supreme Court has made progressive rulings on several issues such as prisoners’ rights and child labor.

General elections are due by next May and the socially conservative Hindu nationalist opposition is already gathering momentum.

India’s gay culture has opened up in recent years, although the country remains overwhelmingly conservative and sex outside marriage, even among heterosexual couples, is largely frowned upon. India’s first gay pride march took place in the eastern city of Kolkata in 1999 and only around a dozen people attended.

Yet, since 2008, India’s capital Delhi, its financial center, Mumbai, the IT hub of Bangalore and other cities have started holding much larger events. Gay film festivals and university campus groups have also sprung up.

The 2009 ruling was the result of a case brought by the Naz Foundation, which fought a legal battle for almost a decade. After the ruling, a collective of mostly faith-based groups took an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Source Reuters