New Delhi, July 7: Yoga guru Ramdev will appeal in the Supreme Court tomorrow against the Delhi High Court ruling decriminalising adult consensual gay sex, his lawyer said today.

“These are unnatural acts not designed for human beings,” said Ajay Gupta, the lawyer of Ramdev, who has an army of followers across India, including celebrities and powerful politicians from almost every party.

“This offends the structure of the Indian value system, culture and traditions as derived from the scriptures.”

If the apex court admits the petition, it will ask the Centre to clarify its stand. The government has over the years been divided on the issue and, after recent pro-gay right noises, has slipped back into comfortable obfuscation following protests from religious bodies.

Gupta mentioned several possible lines of argument against the high court judgment. He said the petition quoted from medical studies to show that the incidence of HIV/AIDS was higher among homosexuals. “The incidence of other sexually transmitted diseases is also higher.”

Rights activists accept that gays are a high-risk group for HIV/AIDS, but say that criminalising gay sex drives homosexuals underground, reducing anti-AIDS campaigners’ access to them.

Gupta said homosexuality had a “negative influence” on the young and that no religion accepted it. “It (homosexuality) has been prevalent for centuries, but was even then considered taboo and banned.”

Gupta contested the high court ruling that criminalising adult consensual gay sex violated Articles 14 (right to equality), 15 (right to equality of opportunity) and 21 (right to life) of the Constitution.

Articles 14 and 15 prohibit the state against discriminating against anybody on the grounds of religion, caste, creed or sex. Gupta quoted from Constituent Assembly debates to claim the term “sex” only denoted gender, and not sexual orientation as the high court thought.

The petition will also question whether the right to privacy as a facet of the right to life (Article 21) includes the right to “deviant” sexual preferences and behaviour.

Gupta said the high court had recognised homosexuals as a distinct class of people for the first time. By that logic, other “anti-social groups” such as robbers and rapists should also be recognised as separate classes, he said.

If homosexual acts are legalised, it would have a far-reaching effect on other sections of society that too are engaged in “perverse sexual activities” like sex-trafficking, live-in relationships and adultery, the petition will say.

The petition will also contend that the ostracism and humiliation faced by gays has more to do with social norms than with the criminalisation of their sexual acts.

Swami Ramdev heads the Bharat Swabhiman Trust, which runs the Patanjali Yogpeeth Bahadarabad in Haridwar, Uttarakhand.