Decriminalization of Section 377: Reality or Facade?

On September 6, 2018, a historic judgment was made by the Supreme Court of India which decriminalized Section 377 of Indian Penal Code. Supreme Court ruled that consensual adult gay sex is not a crime. The verdict included the members of the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Queer) community. The LGBTQ community has always been considered as a taboo in the society. The verdict originated a sense of inclusiveness among those members.

Before this verdict, the vast majority of the LGBTQ Indians remained to live double lives, putting on a false front to be heterosexual because of the immense fear of confronting prejudice or impairment and discrimination.

Decriminalization of the severe and mouldy section 377 of Indian Penal Code has marked an end of an era where this brutal law will no longer be able to violate human rights of a certain kind and to foster and facilitate an atmosphere in which millions of people have faced discrimination because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Section 377 reads: “Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.”

Section 377 is a toxic part of the British legacy which was introduced when India was under the British regime. It imitated a 16th-century law, called the Buggery Act.

The case regarding Section 377 was raised in 2001 when a non-governmental organization called the Naaz Foundation and AIDS Bedhbhav Virodh Andolan approached the Delhi High Court instituting the original lawsuit to decriminalize homosexuality. Following which a widely-documented hearing (including contradictory stands) continued. On July 2, 2009, a landmark judgment was made by Delhi High Court which held that section 377 has violated Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.

Again, on December 11, 2013, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court overturned the HC's 2009 decision and re-criminalized millions of Read More