OST Bureau

Kendrapara, Dec 11:

While LGBT groups and a number of civil society organisations have reacted sharply against the apex court's verdict today terming homosexuality as a criminal offence, a number of Muslim scholars and individuals have come out strongly in support of  the judgement.
LGBT
Moulavi  Ainul Haq Asari, the Moulana of Minar mosque here, said he was very happy to know that the Supreme Court had rejected the 2009 Delhi high court judgment decriminalizing  homosexuality which not only Islam but many others consider unnatural, undesirable and highly condemnable.

"It is a crime and shall always be a crime", he said.

The Maulana said the LGBT campaign to legalise homosexuality was being promoted and patronised by western countries and is no less than a 'conspiracy' designed to destroy the Indian value system.

S. Anwar, a local resident, said any public action including rallies and demonstrations by the LGBT groups and their supporters should be banned and the participants arrested.

" It is against Nature and that is why even animals never indulge in this variety of sex. It is depravity and must be crushed with an iron hand," Anwar said adding that it is also unhealthy and leads to deadly diseases like AIDS.