The Delhi High Court on Thursday shot down an age-old proposition that homosexuality was a mental disorder by saying that it was just another expression of human sexuality.

"There is almost unanimous medical and psychiatric opinion that homosexuality is not a disease or a disorder and is just another expression of human sexuality," a Bench of Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice S Muralidhar said.

Excluding gay sex between consenting adults from the purview of penal provision, the Court allowed the arguments advanced by gay rights activists, who filed a petition before it seeking decriminalisation of homosexual acts.

They had said "the stigma, discrimination and criminalisation faced by men who have sex with men and transgender people are major barriers to universal access to HIV prevention and treatment."

In its 105-page judgement, the Court cited various diagnostic and statistical manuals and WHO report which had excluded homosexuality from the list of mental diseases.

"Homosexuality was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders in 1973 after reviewing evidence that homosexuality is not a mental disorder ... In 1992, the WHO removed homosexuality from its list of mental illness in the international classification of diseases," the Court said.

The Bench concluded that it was not a disease which required cure "as it was just another expression of human sexuality."

The court rejected the Centre's plea for retention of penal provision on the ground that there was a high risk of spread of deadly HIV through homosexual acts.

... contd.