The Centre on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that there were around 25 lakh homosexuals in the country of which 1.75 lakh — seven per cent — were HIV-infected. An affidavit filed in the court by Sayan Chatterjee, Secretary, Department of AIDS Control, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, says, “The population of men who have sex with men (MSM) was estimated to be 25 lakh in India.”
The affidavit cites the figures of the National Aids Control programme.
He said the government was working on bringing four lakh high-risk MSM under the AIDS control programme, of which two lakh are already covered. The incidence of HIV among female sex workers is 4.60-4.94 per cent and among MSM it is 6.54-7.23 per cent. In the case of drug addicts, HIV is the highest at 9.42-10.30 per cent, the affidavit, filed as per directions of the Bench at the last hearing, says.
It also says that due to the government’s AIDS control programme, there has been reduction of HIV prevalence and deaths due to AIDS.
During resumed hearing on the controversial issue of decriminalising same-sex relations, the Bench headed by Justice G S Singhvi told Additional Solicitor General Mohan Jain that the earlier “carefully-worded” affidavit filed by the Union Home Ministry did not say if the Cabinet had accepted the Delhi High Court reading down portions of Section 377, which criminalises sexual relations between members of the same sex.
At the last hearing on February 29, the Centre, which had earlier drawn flak for shifting its stance on the issue, had filed an affidavit saying that on the advice of a GoM, the Cabinet had decided against taking any stand on the issue and had decided to await the decision of the apex court.
During Tuesday’s hearing, counsel for NGO Naz Foundation, which was the petitioner in the Delhi HC, asserted that continued criminalising of gay sex prevents homosexuals from coming out in the open.
“This population is hidden in society and they are not available for getting proper healthcare facilities. There is a greater chance of the transmission of disease among them,” advocate Anand Grover, appearing for the NGO, said.
To this, the court asked him to place the reports and the studies done by experts to substantiate his arguments.
