The apex court in India announced its verdict on December 11, 2013 on a several petitions which challenged the judgement of the Delhi High Court on decriminalizing gay sex between consenting adults in private. The Supreme Court stated that it is for the legislature to decide if the section 377 of the Indian Penal Code should be deleted or not.
With this, the Supreme Court has set aside the judgement of the Delhi High Court, which decriminalized gay sex. However, it is allowing appeals to be filed by different social and religious organizations which are against making gay sex a criminal offence. It has been observed that there is no constitutional infirmity in section 377 of the IPC, which states that gay sex is an offence which is punishable with life imprisonment.
The upholding section 377 of the IPC by the Supreme Court came after 21 months since it reserved its verdict back in March 2012. Indira Jaising, the ASG, while talking about the SC verdict said, “Historical opportunity to expand constitutional values has been lost. It is surprising that the court which does judicial review on many issues has put the ball in the court of Parliament to decide on homosexuality”.
After the verdict was announced by the court, gay activists present in the court looked disappointed and visibly upset.
Photo Credits: Outlook India
