While HIV/AIDS advocates applauded the recent decriminalization of homosexuality in Delhi, India—a measure that would improve outreach efforts as well as access to testing and treatment—a new petition has been filed to reinstate the 148-year-old colonial-era law, BBC News reports.

According to the article, the opposition, led by an astrologer, argues that India’s scriptures and values forbid homosexuality and that abolishing the law will increase the spread of HIV. Religious leaders from the Hindu, Muslim and Christian communities have also come out against the law’s removal.

The chief justice of India, K. Balakrishnan, heard the petition and said the legislation was rarely used against homosexuals and mostly targeted pedophiles. He has asked proponents of the law’s removal to issue a response to the petition.