The Supreme Court on Thursday, 17 May sought the response from the Centre on a plea filed by a batch of 20 current and former students of Indian Institutes of Technology for scrapping the law that makes homosexuality a crime.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud issued notice to the government seeking its reply on the plea and tagged it with other similar petitions which have already been referred to a five-judge constitution bench.
The plea challenged section 377 of the IPC which criminalises sex between two consenting adults of the same gender.
A group of present and past students of IITs across the country moved the apex court to challenge the constitutional validity of section 377 of the IPC that criminalises homosexual activity and other unnatural sex.
Students, claiming to represent more than 350 LGBT alumni, students, staff and faculty from the IITs, said that the existence of section 377 had caused them “mental trauma and illnesses, such as clinical depression and anxiety and relegated some of them to second-class citizenship”.
Coming from different parts of the country with diverse religion, age, sex and other backgrounds, the petitioners said that section 377 legitimises the stigma associated with sexual orientation and its expression, something which is essential, fundamental, intrinsic and innate to an individual.
Contending that the section that violates Articles 14, 15, 16, 19 and 21 of the Constitution, the petitioners said:
The silence of our legislative wing and its ineffectiveness to even consider debating the need for the existence of this law is shameful, to say the least. The stigma, silence and violence that the section brings in its wake has led to some of us dealing with suicidal tendencies and some others attempting suicide in the past.
The group of over 350 LGBT IITians have come together through an informal pan-IIT LGBT group Pravritti which they say is a "safe space for us to interact, connect and network".
Noting that despite having studied in the best scientific institutions and having worked with the best of the minds, the petitioner group said that section 377 had left a "very deep impact on our lives".
“One can only imagine the amount of suffering and pain that section 377 has caused and continues to cause in the lives of LGBT individuals across the country,” the statement said.
Earlier, the top court had referred to a constitution bench several pleas filed by eminent citizens and NGO ‘Naz Foundation' challenging the 2013 apex court verdict which had re-criminalised gay sex between consenting adults.
Section 377 of the IPC refers to ‘unnatural offences' and says whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse "against the order of nature" with any man, woman or animal shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to pay a fine.
On January 8, the top court had said that it will re-examine its 2013 verdict upholding section 377 that criminalises gay sex, and observed that “a section of people or individuals who exercise their choice should never remain in a state of fear”.
The January 8 order had come on a petition by Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee Bharatnatyam dancer Navtej Singh Johar, celebrity chef Ritu Dalmia and others holding that section 377 was "violative of fundamental rights under Article Article 21 (right to life)".
The top court by its 2013 order had set aside a Delhi High Court's 2 July 2009 verdict decriminalising gay sex.
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