Under flak for taking contradictory stands on the law against homosexuality, the Government on Monday told the Delhi High Court not to consider Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss’s views on legalising gay sex among consenting adults and said Section 377 of the IPC was “the will of Parliament and the people, how so wrong it may be”. “Your Lordships can ignore the statements of the Minister. his statements cannot change the law,” said Additional Solicitor General (ASG) P P Malhotra on Monday before a Bench of Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice S Muralidhar. The Centre also repeatedly told the Bench to ignore an embarrassing affidavit from the Home Ministry equating “the crime of widow re-marriage” with homosexuality and lesbianism. “One will not go by what the affidavit says, one will not go by what the minister says, one will only go by what the Constitution says. one will only see if the fundamental rights of any person are affected,” the ASG said. When Chief Justice Shah assured that the court would reach an independent conclusion — “not based on what your minister says or the Law Commission says” — the Centre tried to probe the power of the Bench itself to “change” Section 377. “Judges cannot make or scrap the law, they can only interpret it. Section 377 IPC is the will of Parliament, the will of the people, no matter how wrong it may be,” said the ASG. Malhotra repeated the same talking to 'The Indian Express' after the hearing. The hearing will continue on Tuesday.
