Supreme Court sends gay sex prohibition subject to 5-judge bench; LGBT activists cheer
The argument reopened over a colonial-era prohibition on homosexuality, referring eight curative requests challenging its earlier verdict to a five-judge bench.
The SC said the case involved constitutional problems that were important. “It is a step forward,” attorney Anand Grover said as activists gathered outside the courtroom cheered.
“This is a progressive step in the right course; it’s a corrective measure,” LGBT activist Mohnish said following the hearing. “For now, this is good news,” another activist, Elena, said.
The petitioners include the NGO Naz Foundation, which works for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community.
The plea had said the judgement was allowed on March 27, 2012. However, a verdict was delivered after 21 months that were around and also lots of changes happened in this age, including a change in laws which weren’t considered.
The gay rights activists had said following the Delhi high court decriminalised homosexual sex in 2009, that a large number of women and men revealed their sexual identity during the previous four years, and they were confronting the risk of being prosecuted.
The Delhi HC had decriminalised consensual homosexual acts in private by declaring part of Section 377 that criminalises abnormal sex as unconstitutional, saying “the section refuses a gay man a right to complete personhood…”
The apex court had set the ball in the court of Parliament, saying it was for the legislature to take a call on the desirability of the contentious provision and decided to overrule the verdict in 2013 by carrying on the constitutional validity of Section 377.
