The Supreme Court on Monday said that it will revisit its verdict on Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that criminalised homosexuality.
A three-judge bench of Supreme Court, headed by CJI, said it would reconsider and examine the Constitutional validity of Section 377. The apex court referred to a Constitution bench the petition seeking to decriminalise consensual sex between LGBTQ adults
The decision of the apex court came during a hearing of a plea filed by LGBT community.
The court, while listening to the petition said that no community or indivicual should live in the state of fear. "A section of people or individuals who exercise their choice should never remain in a state of fear," the bench observed.
SC also issues notice to the Centre seeking response on a writ petition filed by five members of LGBT community, who say they live in fear of Police because of their natural sexual preferences, reported news agency ANI.
The Supreme Court bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and S.J. Mukhopadaya in 2013 scrapped a high court verdict that decriminalized consensual sex among homosexual adult.
In 2009, the Delhi high court had ruled that Section 377 of IPC, which criminalizes sex between adult homosexual men, was unconstitutional.
Section 377 holds that whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal commits an unnatural offence. The Bench said: “We hold that Section 377 does not suffer from… unconstitutionality and the declaration made by the Division Bench of the High Court is legally unsustainable.” It, however, said: “Notwithstanding this verdict, the competent legislature shall be free to consider the desirability and propriety of deleting Section 377 from the statute book or amend it as per the suggestion made by Attorney-General G.E. Vahanvati.”