Indian Government Files Petition Against Supreme Court’s Homosexuality Verdict

Suryatapa Mukherjee,

Correspondent (Politics)

 

NEW DELHI – The government on Friday filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking for its review on its December 11 judgment, that recriminalised consensual adult homosexual sex.

Although review petitions are usually heard in chambers, Attorney General G E Vahavati asked that the decision be made after hearing oral arguments in an open court.

Section 377 is vague, arbitrary, violative of right to equality and right to privacy. The petition states that on 76 grounds the judgment “suffers from errors … under Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution.” The Supreme Court judgment also upholds gender-based discrimination.

The Govt has filed the review petition on #377 in the Supreme Court today. Let’s hope the right to personal choices is preserved.

— Kapil Sibal

 

The 2009 High Court judgment that effectively decriminalised homosexuality, was challenged by religious bodies and individuals like All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Apostolic Churches Alliance and Krantikari Manuwadi Morcha.

Being challenged by third parties, their petitions should have been dismissed for lack of admissibility.

The Supreme Court had stated that only a minuscule minority is affected by Section 377, to which the petition argues, “It is clear that the number of people affected is irrelevant when it comes to deciding an issue of constitutionality.”

“Section 377 was introduced not as a reflection of existing Indian values and traditions, but rather, it was imposed upon Indian society due to the moral values of the colonizers. Indian society prior to the enactment of the IPC had a much greater tolerance towards homosexuality,” it says.

The Supreme Court had stated that it is the duty of the Parliament to make laws and not the court’s. The petition argues that it is indeed the duty of the Parliament to make laws but only the courts can decide the constitutional validity of laws.

It also states that the Supreme Court has now through its verdict put the LGBT+ people at risk of prosecution and harassment who had been open about their orientations post-2009 since it was legal to do so.

Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons (Legaleagle86)