NEW DELHI — Today, the Supreme Court in India has agreed to make an exception and hear in open court a special petition on decriminalizing same-sex relations, reports GayAsiaNews.com.
Gay rights activists and organizations had filed a “curative petition” requesting the Supreme Court it to correct its earlier verdict that upheld a colonial era “Section 377” law that described same-sex relations as “unnatural” and a crime punishable by up to life imprisonment.
A curative petition is the last option available to a litigant after exhausting all the appeals and dismissal of a review petition and is generally not heard in open courts.
The Supreme Court has agreed to next week hear in open court the curative plea, reports timesofindia.indiatimes.com.
This comes in the backdrop of the April 15 Supreme Court ruling recognizing transgender people as the third sex that Section 377 was not to be used against transgender people although still being applicable to gays, lesbians and bisexuals.
Nonetheless this ruing provides hope for the Indian gay rights movement that for the past 12 years has waged a legal battle to do away with Section 377.
Efforts by gay rights activists have resulted in a flip-flop with courts decriminalizing and then recriminalizing Section 377.
The Supreme Court past December upheld the validity of the law, reversing the 2009 Delhi’s high court ruling that decriminalized it and gave the gay community broad protections and rights.
In January the Supreme Court dismissed a plea by the federal government, gay rights activists and organizations for reviewing its overarching verdict. Currently, a new Supreme Court bench has agreed to re-examine that decision.
Next week’s curative plea outcome will affect at least 40-60 million LGBT people in India even though anecdotal suggestion shows that one in 10 people are LGBT, making the community around 120 million people in India.
