Matters of personal freedom should be left to individuals: Rahul Gandhi on gay sex

Echoing Congress president Sonia Gandhi's questioning of the Supreme Court's recent order on consensual sex between adults of the same gender, party vice president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said matters relating to personal freedom should be left to the individuals involved.

Speaking to media, Rahul said, "These matters should be left to individuals, as they are matters of personal freedom"

"I would agree more with the Delhi high court order... This country is known for the freedom of expression," he further added.

Earlier today, Sonia Gandhi had expressed her disappointment over the Supreme Court's verdict, saying "I am disappointed that the Supreme Court has reversed a previous Delhi High Court ruling on the issue of gay rights"

She further expressed hope that the Parliament would guarantee life and liberty to all citizens of the country.

"I hope Parliament will address this issue and uphold the constitutional guarantee of life and liberty to all citizens of India, including those directly affected by this judgement," she said.

Describing the earlier Delhi High Court verdict as wise, Gandhi said: "The High Court had wisely removed an archaic, repressive and unjust law that infringed on basic human rights enshrined in our Constitution."

Later in the day, Gandhi met with several government ministers and party leaders, and reportedly discussed the possibility of applying the ordinance route to counter the apex court order.

In a major setback for the largely closeted homosexual community in India, the apex court had on Wednesday said gay sex between consenting adults is a criminal offence.

The apex court set aside the Delhi High Court's 2009 judgement that homosexuality should not be treated as a criminal offence, which had been challenged by anti-gay rights activists, social and religious organisations.

The apex court had reserved its order in March last year, after day-to-day hearing in the case lasted an entire month.

The Delhi High Court had in 2009 decriminalised gay sex as provided in Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and had ruled that sex between two consenting adults in private would not be an offence.

Section 377 (unnatural offences) of the IPC makes gay sex a criminal offence entailing punishment up to life term.