New Delhi: 

Illustration/Saeed Ansari

The Delhi High Court yesterday refuted Vishva Hindu Parishad's (VHP) contention that gay sex causes bodily injury, asking the organisation to substantiate their claim.

Senior Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) leader BP Singhal, representing the VHP, was pulled up by the division bench headed by Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice S Muralidhar who were hearing a petition filed by Naz foundation to decriminalise gay sex among consenting adults, considered an offence at present.

"In several countries where the ban has been lifted (from gay sex), no one has claimed that the act is injurious.

Even the World Health Organisation (WHO) does not say that it causes injuries to people involved in such acts," the bench said.

Show us proof

The court objected to the VHP's contention that gay sex should be banned as it could cause injury to the private parts of the people indulging in the act. "Do you have any material to substantiate the claim that indulgence in such acts causes injury to people's bodies?" the bench asked the organisation. Advocate HV Sharma, appearing for the VHP, however, could not place any material before the court to substantiate its claims.

Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) provides punishment up to life imprisonment for indulging in gay sex.