'We Cannot Accept it': Ban on Gay Sex in Indian Army to Remain in Place - Chief

17:02 GMT, 10 January 2019

New Delhi (Sputnik) - Despite India’s apex court striking down a colonial-era law that criminalised homosexuality, the Indian Army says it strives to maintain its conservative approach in terms of not allowing gay sex in the ranks of its forces.

Sputnik

Indian Army Chief Bipin Rawat has said that despite the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the country, the ban on gay sex among soldiers will remain in place.

Indian court decriminalizes consensual homosexual sex

2 July 2009, 08:24 GMT

In response to a specific query raised by a reporter in the annual press conference in Delhi, General Rawat said that the Indian Army has its own laws regarding homosexuality.

"The Indian Army is very conservative. [A] Soldier on the border cannot be worried about his family back home. The same is on the LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender] issue. In the army we cannot accept it," the Indian Army chief argued.

In September 2018, the Supreme Court of India struck down part of the 158-year-old colonial law under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalised consensual unnatural sex, ruling that it violated rights to equality.