Homosexuality is not a crime, the RSS said Thursday, while maintaining that it does not support same-sex marriage as it was "not natural".


The comments came on a day the Supreme Court unanimously decriminalised part of Section 377, which criminalises consensual unnatural sex, saying it violated the rights to equality.


"Like the Supreme Court's verdict, we also do not consider this (homosexuality) as a crime," RSS 'prachar pramukh' Arun Kumar said in a statement.


'Prachar pramukh' is the designated spokesperson of the Sangh.


However, he maintained the Sangh's old stand and said gay marriage and such relationships were not "compatible with nature".  "These relationships are not natural, so we do not support this kind of relationship."


He claimed that Indian society "traditionally does not recognise" such relations. Humans usually learn from experiences, so this topic needs to be discussed and handled the social and psychological level, Kumar added.


Image: People react after Supreme Court decriminalises consensual gay sex outside the Supreme Court in New Delhi. Photograph: Kamal Kishore/PTI Photo