September 6, 2018 marks a red letter day for the advocates of LGBT Rights in India. The Supreme Court ruled that consensual gay sex is not a crime. They cited the fact that sexual orientation is natural and people have no control over it.
The five-judge Supreme Court bench made the unanimous decision to decriminalise Section 377 and made gay sex legal. Section 377 was formulated during the British era as a part of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The section deemed gay sex as a punishable offence in the country.
This is a great victory for the LGBT community. It marks a new era with the dawning of the powerful concept of personal liberty. The Supreme Court said in its judgement regarding gay sex, “The law must be interpreted as per the requirement of changing times.”
They added, “Consensual sex between in a private space, which is not harmful to women or children, cannot be denied as it is a matter of individual choice. Section 377 results in discrimination and is violative of constitutional principals.”
The five-judge Constitution bench comprised of the Chief Justice of India – Dipak Misra and justices R F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra.
The judges openly said that what the society thinks should not have any power over people’s freedoms. Justice Malhotra even said that the society owes an apology to the LGBTQ community.
The Supreme Court also referred to the August 2017 ruling that every individual has the right to privacy, which is a part of the right to life, and sex is private.
