Indian Army cannot allow gay sex in forces: Army chief Rawat

"We will not allow this to happen in the Army,"  General Rawat said while addressing his annual press conference. He said the Indian army is "conservative" and it  has its own laws on homosexuality.

Homosexuality was decriminalised by the Supreme Court last year, but the Army chief insisted “hum logon ke yahan nahi chalega (all this won’t work here). He accepted that the Army is not above the law but maintained that the Constitution does give it some independence. "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.

"We are neither modernised, nor westernised. LGBT issues are not acceptable to us," he said.

The Supreme Court order striking off parts of the archaic Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code had been hailed as a milestone moment for LGBTQ rights in the country. Laws governing the three arms of the Indian military bar homosexuality and rule it a punishable offence.

In so far as adultery is concerned, last year, the Supreme Court had struck down a colonial-era law, saying it was unconstitutional, dented the individuality of women and treated them as "chattel of husbands".

Meanwhile, Rawat said the Army has managed the situation well along the borders with China and Pakistan and there should be no cause for concern. He, however, added that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir 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," Gen Rawat said, adding that there should be no cause for concern.