Certain religious leaders on Thursday strongly disapproved of the Delhi High Court judgment which legalised gay sex among consenting adults.
"It is absolutely wrong to legalise homosexuality. We will not accept any such law," said Jama Masjid Imam Ahmed Bukhari. He also critcised the government for trying to amend the Indian Penal Code to scrap Section 377 that criminalises homosexuality.
"If the government makes any attempt to scrap Section 377, we will oppose it strongly," Bukhari said.
All India Muslim Personal Law Board member Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahli said homosexuality is not allowed by any religion. "It is against all religions. It is against the culture of Indian society. We feel there is no need to legalise homosexuality. This practice is unnatural. It should continue as a criminal act," he said.
Father Dominic Immanuel said that churches have no objection to decriminalisation of homosexuality but it should not be legalised.
"We have no objection to decriminalisation of homosexuality because we do not consider these people as criminals on par with other criminals," Immanuel said.
However, churches do not approve of homosexual relations as the ethical and moral right of the people, he said.
"It is against nature. Our position is that homosexuality should not be legalised," he said, adding such practice will increase paedophilia and HIV/AIDS.
