In a strongly worded statement, New Delhi's High Court ruled that the 150-year-old statute prohibiting homosexual acts was discriminatory and therefore a "violation of fundamental rights."

"It cannot be forgotten that discrimination is antithesis of equality and that it is the recognition of equality which will foster dignity of every individual," the court said in a 105-page judgment.

Quoting India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, Justice A.P. Shah said: "Words are magic things often enough, even the magic of words sometimes cannot convey magic of human spirit and of a nation's passion."

The ruling applies only to New Delhi and to consensual sex among adults older than 18. But federal government ministers are in the process of reviewing the law.

Acceptance of homosexuality has grown in India in the last two years, most visibly in Bollywood films and gay-pride parades attended by thousands of people, especially youths, who make up 75 percent of the country.

"I am so proud of India," said Sumith Baudh, a member of Voices Against 377, a coalition of advocacy groups. "The ruling was made in the most exquisite terms of equality, of dignity, of privacy, and of respect for all human rights. We know this will translate for the lives of many Indians into creating more tolerance, fighting harassment, isolation, and depression they have long suffered."

But Indian society is deeply religious and bound by centuries-old traditions, and Hindu, Muslim, and Christian leaders were quick to denounce the court's decision as harmful to the Indian family and traditional values.

"This Western culture cannot be permitted in our country," said Maulana Khalid Rashid Farangi Mahali, a leading Muslim cleric in Lucknow.

Kamal Farooqi of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board called the ruling "a sad day for civilized society. They are spoiling the future generations."

Babu Joseph, spokesman for the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, said in a statement that "while respecting the judgment of the court, we still hold that homosexuality is not an acceptable behavior in society."

Others have argued that the law was a holdover from the British times and that Hindu scripture includes flattering references to gay and lesbian sex as one of the natural joys of human experience.

"Most of the world's sodomy laws are relics of colonialism," said Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. "As the world's largest democracy, India has shown the way for other countries to rid themselves of these repressive burdens."

Countries that still retain versions of this British sodomy law include Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Sudan, and Sierra Leone. Governments that inherited the same British law but have abolished it since include Australia, Fiji, Hong Kong, and New Zealand.

The petitioners to the High Court were backed by a swell of overseas support. The United Nations argued that the law was a barrier to combating the spread of HIV/AIDS in a country that has an estimated 2.5 million people living with the disease.