India’s supreme court has once again criminalised consensual sex between homosexual partners.

The supreme court saw it fit to overturn a lower court ruling that four years ago decriminalized such a relationship, in what was then hailed by gay rights groups as a landmark ruling.

Known as “Section 377”, the original law had been implemented since India’s Colonial-era days. It banned people from engaging in “carnal acts against the order of nature.”

It took a seven-year legal battle form the non-profit Naz Foundation to win a verdict from New Delhi’s high court. They, appropriately, claimed that the law infringed on the right to equality, privacy and dignity as set out in India’s Constitution.

The High court ruled in Naz’s favor. But the bigots from religious groups filed an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Amnesty International India called Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling “a black day of freedom in India.”

It is hard not to feel let down by this judgment, which has taken India back several years in its commitment to protect basic rights.

[Source : CNN]