Army Chief Bipin Rawat puts down SC verdict on Section 377; says, ‘won’t allow gay sex in the army’

In an annual interview on Thursday, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat spoke on several subjects including the Supreme Court’s verdict on decriminalizing homosexuality. Commenting on top court scrapping Section 377 General Bipin Rawat said gay sex will be allowed in the Indian Army.

"We will not allow this to happen in the Army," said General Rawat, in his annual press conference. Rawat said the Indian army has its own laws on homosexuality. "We are not above the country's law but when you join the Indian Army, some of the rights and privileges you enjoy are not what we have. Some things are different for us," he said.

In a historical judgement, five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court unanimously decriminalised a part of a colonial-era law under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, last year in September. Under Section 377, "consensual unnatural sex" was banned, saying it violated the rights to equality.

When Bipin Rawat was asked about the Supreme Court ruling on adultery, he said the Army is "very conservative". "We can't allow it to perpetrate into the Army," he said.

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