KL Report
SRINAGAR
Few days after Dr Farooq Abdullah landed in controversy over his remarks on women, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Wednesday opposed a ban on same sex marriages saying the people must have a choice to choose their own life style.
“Questions of morality and religion are not the issue. How can a life style choice be illegal? SC removes red lights for equality yet not #377,” he wrote on micro blogging site twitter.com.
Omar was responding to a the ruling of Supreme Court in which the Apex court ruled that red beacon can only be used by high dignitaries holding constitutional posts while on duty. The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday to put an end to its misuse by politicians and bureaucrats flaunting it as a status symbol, saying it is reflective of the “Raj mentality”.
The apex court also banned private individuals from using siren in their vehicles and directed the authorities to take punitive action against those doing so.
Omar further said that law should not be biased and every individual has a right to take their own stand on Gay and Lesbian marriages.
“People can take whatever stand their religious/ moral beliefs dictate regarding #LGBT lifestyle choices but is terming it illegal not wrong?”, he wrote in another tweet.
This is for the first time that Chief Minister of Muslim majority state openly advocates for the same –sex marriages, a taboo in Muslim societies.
Pertinently the Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police, Ashok Prasad, on Wednesday took the lead in removing it from his official vehicles.
“While implementing the Supreme Court judgment in letter and spirit, we decided to first set our own house in order,” Prasad said in an apparent reference to the use of red beacons on vehicles by all senior police officers in the state. In this context, he also referred to the statement of State Chief Minister Omar Abdullah that he does not need red beacon on his vehicle.
“I have removed red beacon from my vehicles and now, I request all others, who are not authorised for it as per the apex court order, to do the same,” he said, adding that the state police and the traffic cops are competent enough to remove these lights in accordance with the apex court decision.
Earlier the senior Abdullah said that he is scared to talk to women fearing he might be jailed.
Commenting on retired Supreme Court judge Justice AK Ganguly being accused of sexually harassing a law intern, Farooq Abdullah said: “The situation is such that these days I am scared to talk to a woman. I don’t even want to keep a female secretary. Who knows, I might end up in jail because of a complaint.”
