Recalling how she landed up with the case, advocate Pritha Srikumar, 36, says has represented 20 IIT graduates and alumni who belong to the LGBTQ community. “I think sexual orientation of every individual is natural and nothing to be shocked about. The whole subject struck a chord with me.
Full Answer
I accept direct messages and business inquiries by anyone on LinkedIn for free, even if we’re not connected. Learn more
A bit ironic (or perhaps apt :)) to be posting this here on LinkedIn. This lovely essay in The Indian Express on the means we have devised to…
A group of 20 students and alumni of the Indian Institutes of Technology have filed a petition in the Supreme Court against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalises homosexuality and any form of “unnatural” sex.
Legal attempts to decriminalise homosexuality in India began in 2009, when the Delhi High Court admitted a plea by the non-profit Naz Foundation. In a landmark judgement that year, the High Court deemed Section 377 to be unconstitutional and violative of the rights of consenting adults from the LGBT community.
Infamously, the Supreme Court held that the LGBT community was only a “miniscule fraction” of the country’s population, that them being prosecuted could not be a basis for a challenge to Section 377, and relegated the decision to Parliament. Four separate judgments have been authored by the five- judge Bench.
However, all four judgments speak unanimously, and in one voice, on the core message—that Section 377 is unconstitutional. It is significant that in a plurality of opinions, running into several hundred pages, all the judges were unanimous on all counts.