The Indian Supreme Court April 3 has agreed to consider the plea by gay activists to reconsider its verdict that recriminalized same-sex relations. Naz Foundation, a voluntary organization fighting for gay rights and the repeal of the colonial-era anti-gay law, had filed a curative petition requesting the Supreme Court to “correct” its verdict. A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam said it will go through the documents and consider their plea, IndianTimes.com is reporting.
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 had earlier dismissed the review petition filed by the federal government and NAZ Foundation after it had reversed the 2009 decision of Delhi High Court decriminalizing consensual same-sex relations.
Its ruling this past December revived Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and declared that such relations were criminal, an act of sex against the order of nature and punishable with life imprisonment. Naz Foundation which has been spearheading the legal battle on behalf of India’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, andtransgender community had with other rights activists contended that there was an error in the Supreme Court’s judgment as it violated fundamental rights.
Gay rights activists and organizations had pointed out that thousands from the LGBT community had became open about their sexual identity during the past four years after the high court decriminalized consensual same-sex relations and were now facing the threat of being prosecuted.
The ruling will affect at least 40-60 million LGBT people in India even though anecdotal suggestion shows that one in 10 people are LGBT which would put the figure around 120 million people.
