Homosexuality has never been considered crime in Hindu culture: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Zee Media Bureau New Delhi: Even as a debate has ensued in the country on the Supreme Court ruling setting aside a landmark Delhi High Court judgement decriminalising gay sex, spiritual guru, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said on Wednesday that homosexuality had never been considered a crime in Hindu culture. Sri Sri wrote on the micro-blogging site Twitter – "Homosexuality has never been considered a crime in Hindu culture. In fact, Lord Ayyappa was born of Hari-Hara (Vishnu and Shiva)." He also tweeted – "Homosexuality, not a crime in any Smriti. Everyone has male and female elements. According to their dominance, tendencies show up and may change." In another post Sri Sri wrote – "Nobody should face discrimination because of their sexual preferences. To be branded a criminal for this is absurd." The judgement of the two-judge bench headed by Justice GS Singhvi revived the penal provision making gay sex an offence punishable with life imprisonment and threw the ball into Parliament`s court for amending law. Upholding the constitutional validity of Section 377 of IPC relating to "unnatural sex", a bench also comprising SJ Mukhopadhya, said the provision cannot be struck down merely on the apprehension of its misuse or changing perception of society. The bench allowed the appeals filed by various social, religious and child rights organisations challenging the high court verdict on the ground that gay sex is against the cultural and religious values of the country. The ruling by the apex court has left gay-rights activists and LGBT community disappointed and shocked. The Twitter world was also abuzz with people posting comments expressing their views. Some from the legal fraternity and Hindi film industry called the ruling by the SC a `black day` and `regressive`. Some the political community reacted cautiously, like Union Minister Kapil Sibal, who said that it was the court`s prerogative to test the constitutionality of the law, and Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari, who said that the government will look into it after studying the judgement. Other politicians like Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar said that appropriate steps must be taken to ensure that those having same sex preferences are treated equally, and CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat termed the order wrong.

Then there were others like Baba Ramdev who called homosexuality an addiction and a crime. With PTI inputs