India’s Supreme Court has refused to reconsider its ruling reinstating a ban on gay sex, the BBC reports.
The 153-year-old colonial law criminalizing homosexuality as an “unnatural offence” was overturned by the Delhi High Court in 2009. The Supreme Court reinstated the law in December, however, and has now dismissed a petition from the government and gay rights activists to reconsider its position.
The law is seldom used in India to make arrests but is often used by police to harass gay people.
The government can now either make a final appeal to the court, called a curative petition, or try to amend the law in parliament.
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