The Supreme Court referred to a larger Bench a writ
petition filed by five petitioners to quash Section 377 of the Indian Penal
Code which criminalises homosexuality. The apex court said a section of people
cannot live in fear of the law which atrophies their right to choice and
natural sexual inclinations. It said societal morality changes with time and
law should walk and change pace with life.
The court observed that what is natural for one may not
be natural for the other, but the confines of law cannot trample or curtail the
inherent rights embedded with an individual under Article 21 (right to life) of
the Constitution.
A three-judge Bench led by Chief
Justice of India Dipak Misra decided to revisit its December 2013 verdict in
Suresh Kumar Kaushal vs. Naz Foundation which dismissed the LGBT community as a
negligible part of the population while virtually denying them the right of
choice and sexual orientation.
Twenty-six nations — Australia, Malta, Germany, Finland,
Colombia, Ireland, the U.S., Greenland, Scotland, Luxembourg, England and
Wales, Brazil, France, New Zealand, Uruguay, Denmark, Argentina, Portugal,
Iceland, Sweden, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Canada, Belgium, and the
Netherlands — have decriminalised gay sex.
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