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New Law Minister Had Tabled Private Bill to Overrule Decriminalisation of Homosexuality in 2012

It's interesting to analyse how a Union minister, who was against decriminalising gay sex, has been made the law minister at a time when the Supreme Court is hearing crucial petitions on same-sex marriage in India.
Arjun Ram Meghwal. Credit: PTI/Kamal Singh

New Delhi: India’s new law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal had tabled an anti-homosexuality Bill in the Lok Sabha in 2012. The Bill opposed the Delhi high court judgment of 2009 which had termed section 377 of the Indian Penal Code ‘unconstitutional’ and decriminalised gay sex.

After the Supreme Court re-criminalised Section 377 in 2013, Meghwal praised the top court’s decision. He said he would raise the private member’ bill again.

The main point of my Bill is that the honourable Delhi high court’s decision is not in accordance with Indian culture,” he had told the Hindu at the time.

It was titled the Indian Penal Code (amendment) Bill 2012 (Amendment of section 377).

On Thursday, May 18, the Rashtrapati Bhavan announced that Kiren Rijiju has been divested of the law and justice portfolio, and that Meghwal was given its charge.

It’s interesting to analyse how a Union minister, who was against decriminalising gay sex, a basic human right for the LGBTQ+ community, has been made the law minister at a time when the Supreme Court is hearing crucial petitions on legalising same-sex marriage in India.

Meghwal’s comments had earlier raised eyebrows in other instances as well. In May 2016, he had claimed in the Lok Sabha that women were afraid of flying MiG21 fighter jets due to high accident rates.

He then sought to explain that what he actually meant was that awareness should be orgainsed at NCC and school level against the fear of flying.

He was born in a Dalit family of weavers in Kishmideshar village in Rajasthan’s Bikaner district in 1953. He worked as a weaver during his school and college days to support his family and pay for his education.

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