Govt divided on section 377?

Being gay in India may now be legal but how will the Delhi High Court order work on the ground?

Home Minister P Chidambaram along with his Cabinet colleagues Law Minister Veerappa Moily and Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad held meeting to analyse Delhi High Court's judgement decriminalising same gender sex.

Emerging out of the half-an-hour long meeting held at North Block, Moily said the trio will submit their report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The law ministry has been asked to give its opinion.

"We analysed it and reflected on the judgement, now we will be submitting the report to the PM for further action," said Veerappa Moily, Union Law Minister.

The Union home minister also promised to look into it.

"As we read the judgement, it only deals with only one aspect of article 377. Section 377 has been left intact except for one aspect and we have asked the department of law to prepare a note based on the judgement, we will take a look at that note and then decide what needs to be done," said P Chidambaram, Union Home Minister.

In what is considered as a victory for gay rights activists, the Delhi High Court had on Thursday legalised homosexual acts among consenting adults holding that the 149-year-old law making it a criminal offence is violative of fundamental rights and not punishable.

The government had on Thursday adopted a cautious approach and avoided any direct reply on what its next move will be following the judgement. (With inputs from PTI)