The hearing in the pleas seeking scrapping of Section 377 to continue on Wednesday at the Supreme Court. A five-member constitutional bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, comprises Justices R F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra will continue to hear the plea. During the hearing, a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said it will also examine the correctness of its 2013 verdict that had set aside the Delhi High Court judgement decriminalising gay sex. Former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for one of the petitioners, argued that the issue deals only with sexual orientation and that it has nothing to deal with gender. He said, "Section 377 violates one's human rights. The issue deal only with sexual orientation and it has nothing to do with gender." Rohatgi said that this is the case of constitutional morality versus others and has a large ramification. "This is a case of constitutional morality vs others. This case has a large ramification," he said. The former Attorney General emphasised that the issue of gender and sexual orientation are two different things and it should not be mixed up. He said," Issue of gender and sexual orientation are two different things. These two issues should not be mixed up. This is not a question of choice." Rohatgi also said, "As society changes, values changes, we can say, what is moral 160 years ago might not be moral today." If enacted, Section 377 'won't withstand the test of constitutionality', says advocate Arvind Dattar As the Constitution Bench of Supreme Court continues to hear the pleas seeking scrapping of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which criminalises homosexuality, advocate Arvind Dattar said if enacted the law "won't withstand the test of constitutionality." While appearing for one of the petitioners, Dattar submitted to the five-judge constitution bench of the Court that 1860 Code was imposed on India and it did not represent even the will of the British Parliament.
"If Section 377 was enacted today, it won't withstand the test of constitutionality," Dattar said. However, in response, the Constitutional Bench asked Dattar to convince the star that "if a law like this was made now, it won't be sustainable." Dattar added: "If a person has a different sexual orientation, it can't be treated as a crime. This can't be treated as against the order of nature." Section 377 of IPC: Timeline of events
These are all American habits, there's a lot of money behind it. The Americans want to open gay bars, and it'll be a cover for paedophiles and a huge rise in HIV cases. It is a danger to our national security," he told ANI.
Swamy further said although the government is not in favour of discrimination against homosexuals, it doesn't consider it to be natural. "We want them to have a normal economic life. They should get jobs on merit, but we cannot allow them to celebrate. It is not a natural thing and we cannot treat it as normal. We should invest in medical research to see if can be cured," he said. Swamy further said that if the top court ruled homosexuality to be normal and a free choice, the government should constitute a seven-judge bench or a nine-judge bench to review it. "It (Homosexuality) is against Hindutva, it is against all our scriptures and I will certainly continue to protest against it," he added.