Muslim groups oppose move to relax India's gay laws
Muslim organisations in India have said that making homosexuality legal in the country would be anti-Islamic.
“Homosexuality is an offence under Sharia Law and haram (prohibited) in Islam,” deputy vice chancellor Abdul Khalik Madrasi from the Darul Uloom Deoband Maulana group said.
The reaction came after reports that the Indian government was likely to look again at the law which criminalises homosexuality.
“We are shocked to see reports in the media that the Union government is considering the repeal of Section 377 of the IPC, which means making homosexuality legal,” a statement by more than a dozen prominent Muslim religious leaders said.
They appealed to the government to avoid the “decadent trends of the Western culture” and not to give in to the demands of a “minuscule minority”.
“The section should stay as its repealing would result in sexual anarchy in the society. Those opposing the section are influenced by Western culture. Those who argue for independence do not realise that independence should have its limits,” a spokesman for one of the groups, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, told the Times of India.
Akki, a representative of the leading gay rights group Sangama, said: “Religious leaders need to understand our demand and debate the matter. Using harsh words is not going to solve the problem.
“We are happy that the central government looking again at the law and we hope our demands will be considered.”
