10 January 2018 12:23 pm
India’s Supreme Court is to consider scrapping a colonial-era law upheld in 2013 that criminalises same sex relationships.
In a victory for equal rights campaigners, the court said a larger group of judges will re-examine the constitutional validity of Section 377 - a law that prohibits ‘carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal’ - which has been widely interpreted to refer to gay sex.
‘What is natural to one may not be natural to others,’ the top court said on Monday.
A section of people or individuals who exercise their choice should never remain in a state of fear.’
Lawyer Anand Grover, who appeared for five members of the LGBT community who had petitioned the court seeking a review of the ban, said: ‘It is a big relief and a primary step taken by the Supreme Court to review its earlier order.’
The petitioners had told the court they were living in constant fear of police action because of their sexual orientation.
India’s Supreme Court had in a surprise ruling in 2013 reinstated a ban on gay sex after a four-year period of decriminalisation that had helped bring homosexuality into the open in the socially conservative country.
India, (Daily Mail), 9 January 2018 -