Image for representational purpose. Express photo by Partha Paul.
The Supreme Court judgment today is a fantastic one and it clearly has very far-reaching implications on a number of issues. Increasingly, many of us had been feeling trapped by what is happening with Aadhaar card; and the obvious other big piece for me is Section 377. The Supreme Court’s decision that right to privacy is a wholly qualified fundamental right has huge implications. Suppose the it hadn’t been granted, then it would have meant that the government or anyone or any agency for that matter could get to you in the privacy of your own home. If you recall the case of Professor Siras at Aligarh Muslim University, local journalists had barged into his bedroom and filmed him. That kind of a violation cannot happen now.
Right to privacy had been an integral part of the Delhi High Court judgment on section 377 in 2009. In spite of that judgment being such a wonderful one, it had still been set aside by the Supreme Court in 2013. Luckily, the apex court is willing to listen to the curative petition. I am sure that today’s judgment will have a tremendous impact on that.
If you look at the Delhi High Court judgment, the Naz Foundation had basically asked for a reading down of the law, so that consenting adults are not within its purview. We asked for the reading down because child sexual abuse was prosecuted under this law. But now with POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act having come into existence, 377 is not an issue except for the part which covers sexual violence against animals.
What people need to understand is that the Delhi High Court judgment had been a decriminalisation of homosexuality for consenting adults. It was not like any great rights were granted to the LGBT community. Even after homosexuality is decriminalised, they do not automatically get the rights that all other citizens take for granted like the right to marriage, right to inherit, right to adopt etc. But decriminalisation is the first, necessary step and right to privacy would have a huge role in that. I feel proud that our courts have given such a judgment today.
(As told to Nandini Rathi)
