NEW DELHI:  In a blow to gay rights activists, the Supreme Court today upheld the constitutional validity of the penal provision making gay sex an offence punishable with upto life imprisonment.

A bench of justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhaya set aside the Delhi High Court's verdict which had in 2009 decriminalised gay sex among consenting adults in private.

NEW DELHI: With the Supreme Court pronouncing gay sex as illegal, the government today indicated that it will take the legislative route to deal with the issue.

The apex court in its verdict put the ball in Parliament's court to decide on the desirability of deleting the relevant section from Indian Penal Code.

"It is the prerogative of the Supreme Court under the Constitution to test the constitutionality of a law. They are exercising their prerogative.

MUMBAI: The BSE benchmark Sensex declined by over 90 points in early trade today as funds and retail investors indulged in booking profits amid a weak trend in Asian markets.

The 30-share barometer fell by 90.40 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 21,164.86. The index had lost 71.16 points in the previous session.

Stocks of capital goods, banking, PSUs, auto, metal and oil and gas sectors succumbed to profit-booking.

Similarly, the National Stock Exchange index Nifty fell by 27.

Hectic consultations were on in both AAP and BJP two days after the Assembly elections threw up a split verdict that gave majority to none in the 70-member House.

While BJP has emerged as the single largest party having won 31 seats, its ally Akali Dal (Badal) has bagged one constituency, leaving it four MLAs short of majority mark of 36.

AAP, on the other hand, has got 28 seats followed by Congress with eight.

BJP has also said that it will not stake claim to form government.

"We have no numbers. We do not want to purchase any MLAs," former BJP president Nitin Gadkari, who is party in-charge for Delhi, had said yesterday.

AAP legislators had yesterday unanimously elected Kejriwal as their leader in the Delhi Assembly.

NEW DELHI:  Two days after elections threw a hung verdict in Delhi, there was no breakthrough in formation of a government with both BJP and Aaam Admi Party refusing to budge from their rigid stand of sitting in the opposition and saying that they would prefer fresh polls to end the logjam.

NEW DELHI: Anna Hazare today began his indefinite fast at his village in Maharashtra to press for immediate passage of Jan Lokpal Bill in Parliament even as Government said it was serious about getting the anti- graft measure passed in the current session itself.