Mumbai: Activist Ashok Row Kavi challenges Sec 377 in SC

Mumbai: In what has brought some hope to the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) community, the Supreme Court of India on Tuesday issued a notice to the Union government, seeking its response on a fresh petition challenging section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.

The petition is filed by – Ashok Row Kavi, who was the first gay man to publicly come out in 1984, along with three other gay men and the Humsafar Trust. Through their petitions, the activists have urged the SC to decriminalise same-sex relations, which are prohibited under section 377.

In their petitions, the activists have claimed that section 377 deprives the LGBTQ persons of their right to equality before the law, freedom of expression, personal autonomy and right to dignity and privacy. The activists have urged the bench headed by Chief Justice of India – Dipak Misra – to restrain the law enforcing authorities from invoking section 377 with regard to consensual, sexual conduct between adults in private.

Having admitted the petition, the bench also comprising Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud and Justice Ajay Khanwilkar issued a notice to the Union government asking it to clarify its stand on the petitions. It may be noted that in January this year, the top court had indicated that it would be reconsidering its own decision of 2013, wherein same-sex relations, which are often applied in cases of homosexual relationships, was criminalised. The fresh petitions highlight the ill-treatment meted out to the LGBT community owing to the sexuality.