Won't allow gay sex in army: Gen Rawat

'Such actions are forbidden in the army.'

General Bipin Rawat, the chief of the army staff, on Thursday, January 10, suggested that the Supreme Court verdict on decriminalisation of gay sex may not be implemented in the army.

General Rawat, at his annual press conference ahead of Army Day, said such actions are forbidden in the army.

At the same time, he added that the army is not above the law.

"We will not allow this to happen in the army," the general declared.

In what was hailed as a historic move, a five-judge Constitution bench last September unanimously decriminalised part of the 158-year-old colonial law under Section 377 of the IPC which criminalises consensual unnatural sex, saying it violated the rights to equality.

When asked about the court ruling on adultery, he said the army is conservative.

"We can't allow it to perpetrate into the army," General Rawat said.

Last year, the Supreme Court had struck down a colonial-era anti-adultery law, saying it was unconstitutional, dented the individuality of women and treated them as 'chattel of husbands'.

General Rawat said the army had managed the situation well along the borders with China and Pakistan and there should be no cause for concern.

The situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the general said, needs to be improved further.

"We are only facilitators for peace in J&K," he said.

"We have managed the situation well along the northern and western borders," General Rawat said, adding that there should be no cause for concern.

With the US and Russia reaching out to the Taliban in Afghanistan, General Rawat said, "We have interests in Afghanistan, we can't be out of the bandwagon."

"The same analogy can't apply to Jammu and Kashmir. Talks in the state have to be on our terms," the army chief asserted.