On Tuesday, the chief of India's National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) said India's law against homosexuality is "not acceptable" and abolishing it is "fundamental" to the nation's AIDS fight. The British colonial-era law, Section 377 of the Penal Code, punishes men with up to 10 years in jail for having sex with men.

"This is not acceptable. Section 377 is quite an anachronism," Sujatha Rao told delegates of a four-day Asia-Pacific conference on male sexual health and HIV. She called the 1861 law, which is being challenged in New Delhi's High Court by AIDS groups, "hateful."

Activists say police use the threat of Section 377 to extort money from gay men sitting in parks or lanes.

NACO estimates about 25 percent of men who have sex with men (MSM) are infected with HIV. "It is important to end this [Section 377], otherwise it would be very difficult to reach out to MSM and end the spread of this infection," Rao said after the conference. Just 6-8 percent of gay men receive any HIV/AIDS outreach, including the distribution of condoms, she said.

While India's Ministry of Home Affairs has opposed abolishing the law, citing public opinion, Rao said NACO was trying to reach a common position before the High Court hears the case in October.

Rao's comments followed by 10 days an open letter written by leading Indian writers, lawyers, and artists asking the government to remove the "monstrous" law. "With this law, MSM are scared to come out in the open and we can't work with them [on HIV prevention]," the authors said.

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