NEW DELHI: BJP MP
Subramanian Swamy said on Tuesday that being homosexual is "not normal", is "against Hindutva", and needs "medical research to see if it can be cured", reported news agency ANI.
"It (homosexuality) is not a normal thing. We cannot celebrate it. It's against Hindutva. We should invest in medical research to see if it can be cured,"" said the BJP leader to ANI.
The Rajya Sabha MP said this on a day a
Constitution
bench of the
Supreme Court (
SC) is scheduled to start hearing petitions against
Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that criminalises same-gender sex. The petitions against it seek protection of the sexual orientation and the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people
Swamy said that instead of a Constitution bench of the SC hearing petitions against Section 377, the government should consider having a seven- or nine-judge bench.
In 2015, the 78-year-old Swamy had called homosexuality a “genetic flaw”.
In January this year, the senior BJP leader said section 377 should stay so that homosexuals who “flaunt” their sexual orientation need to be punished.
Swamy wants the LGBTQ community to do whatever they want to do “in privacy" and not “celebrate” their sexuality.
“As long as they don't celebrate it, don't flaunt it, don't create gay bars to select partners it's not a problem,” said Swamy.
The Rajya Sabha MP put a condition before homosexuals seeking privacy.
“In their privacy what they do, nobody can invade but if you flaunt it, it has to be punished & therefore there has to be #Section377 of the IPC,” added Swamy.
Meanwhile, the SC on Monday admonished the Centre for the delay in filing its response to petitions against Section 377 and said it wouldn't grant it more time. The Centre had requested the SC for more time to file its response to the petitions. The top court added that the matter had been pending for a while and the Centre should have filed its response by now.
In May, the apex court decided to hear the plea filed by Indian Institute of Technology's LGBT alumni association seeking scrapping of Section 377 of the IPC. Earlier, on April 27, Ashok Rao Kavi of Humsafar Trust and Arif Jaffar also filed petitions against Section 377.
These two pleas came just six days after hotelier Keshav Suri, filed a plea in this regard in the top court. In response to Suri's plea, the apex court on April 23 sought the Centre's reply on the plea seeking scrapping of Section 377.
Earlier, in 2009, the Delhi High Court had decriminalised Section 377, but the order was later set aside by a Supreme Court bench.
Read this story in Bengali Categorised as an unnatural offence, consensual sexual intercourse between persons of same-sex is termed 'against the order of nature' under Section 377 of the IPC, and can be punishable by life imprisonment.
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