Section 377: Chidambaram hints at new thinking

With the debate over legalising homosexuality by reviewing Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code still raging on...

With the debate over legalising homosexuality by reviewing Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code still raging on,Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said the new set of ministers in the new UPA government could bring in new thinking on the subject. Stating that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had asked the Union Law,Health and Home Ministers to meet and take a view on the contentious issue,Chidambaram said,The meeting is being scheduled. We have a new government,we have new ministers,and they can always bring in new thinking on the subject. They may still reach the same conclusion. But nothing prevents them from bringing new thinking to the subject.

Asked about the Centres plans to notify the amendments of CrPC passed by Parliament,Chidambaram said the matter was held up because of a couple of issues on which lawyers have had some reservations,which he said could be resolved soon. They can be resolved,they are being resolved and I am hopeful they will be resolved in the next couple of weeks. And then we can notify all of them in one go. Piecemeal notifications are not very advisable, he said.

On Jamp;K Chief Minister Omar Abdullahs decision to pull out CRPF from North Kashmir and replace it with state police,he said,Yesterday,the CM telephoned me to say that he thinks the Jamp;K Police is now ready to take over law and order responsibilities of Baramulla and I said it is fine with us and the CRPF in that area has been sent to the barracks.

On whether the Centre was going to withdraw or repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in the state and Northeast,Chidambaram reiterated that the government had agreed to review the AFSPA. That review is underway. No decision has been taken yet, he said.

On the Lalgarh operations,Chidambaram said the operations were nearing completion and the objective of the operation was to recover territory dominated by the CPIMaoists and restore the rule of the civil administration,which had lost control. In the bargain,if some residents of the villages have left their homes,taken shelter in jungles or whatever,it is the duty of the civil administration to encourage them to come back to their homes, he said.

Chidambaram acknowledged the receipt of a copy of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjees letter to the PM alleging that the CPM-led Left Front government in West Bengal was using the Central Forces in Lalgarh to commit atrocities. I told the Prime Minister that I will certainly look into the allegation. We will have a word with Mamataji and I will get back to the Prime Minister, he said.