BJP leader Subramanian Swamy expects that the next government will move a 7 judge bench to set aside this 5 judge bench order. | Photo Credit: ANI

New Delhi: Hours after the Supreme Court decriminalised Section 377 making gay sex legal, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy called it “an American game” and said that soon there will be gay bars in India where homosexuals will go which will lead to the spread of HIV. “I hope the next government will move a 7 judge bench to set aside this 5 judge bench order,” he said.

Earlier today, a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court defanged part of the 158-year-old colonial law under Section 377 of the IPC which criminalises consensual unnatural sex, saying it violated the rights to equality.

The constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra termed the part of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalises consensual unnatural sex as irrational, indefensible and manifestly arbitrary.

The bench, which also comprised Justices R F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud, and Indu Malhotra, struck down part of Section 377 of the IPC as being violative of the right to equality and the right to live with dignity.

Meanwhile, after the verdict was pronounced, RSS's All India Campaign chief Arun Kumar said that the organisation does not even consider homosexuality a crime, however, gay marriage and relationship are not compatible with nature and are not natural.

Meanwhile, the United Nations in India welcomed the landmark ruling by the Supreme Court of India and hoped that the ruling will be the first step towards guaranteeing the full range of fundamental rights to LGBTI persons.