HIGHEST COURT DECRIMINALIZES HOMOSEXUALITY

India has decriminalized homosexuality, striking down a colonial-era law as unconstitutional, and sparking celebrations among LGBT groups and human rights campaigners across the country.

Onlookers were brought to tears as the judgment of the five-member bench was read outside India’s most powerful judicial authority.

Chief justice Dipak Mishra said that homosexuality was neither a crime nor a “mental disorder” as described in the “incomprehensible” 157-year-old laws.

Offenders faced up to 10 years in jail, although prosecutions were rare.

However, gay rights groups said the police used the law to harass and intimidate members of their community.