Section 377 of Indian penal code , which became immensely popular especially amongst youth , back in 2018 has his history as long back as of 1838 , the year when this whole idea of homosexuality as a crime was drafted for the first time by Thomas Macaulay. This idea was modelled on the buggery act of 1533 and was introduced in 1861 in British India under the reign of king henry VIII.
Section 377 in The Indian Penal Code reads as follows:
Unnatural offences.—Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with 1[imprisonment for life], or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine
Explanation: Section 377 penalizes all other intercourse except for heterosexual penile- vaginal penetration . Also consent was no defence under sec. 377 of IPC .
Timeline
This revolution to decriminalise homosexuality and declare section 377 as unconstitutional began in India in the year 1994 .
1994 : In May ,1994 Inspector general Tihar jail Kiran Bedi , refused to give condoms to the prisoners of speculating that this will promote homosexuality amongst them. ABVA filed writ petition demanding the same but the plea was ultimately dismissed in the year 2001.
2001 : Later in this year in December public interest litigation (PIL) was filed to decriminalise homosexuality by NAZ foundation , a NGO working for gay rights but was dismissed in year 2004 on the ground that there was no cause of action. Also they filed review petition which was also dismissed later.
2006: A Special Leave Petition(SLP) was filed by NAZ foundation in Delhi high court. Meanwhile other NGO’s working for the same issue became active and collaborated together as a bigger work force.
2009: A major breakthrough came in 2009 by Delhi high court in judgement of “Naz foundation v. Government of N.C.T of Delhi and others” where court declared that section 377 infringes the rights of consenting individual who have reached the age of majority (18 years or above) on the basis of article 14 (right to equality), article 15 ( prohibition of discrimination on the basis of religion, race ,caste, sex , place of birth or any of them) and article 21(right to life) . The court clarified non consensual intercourse and sex involving minors will continue to be governed by sec 377 of IPC. Also this judgement would not have any retrospective effect on the judgements and will hold until the parliament chooses to amend the law.
2013: The verdict of Delhi high court wasn’t acceptable to various groups of individuals mainly religious conservatives , who in turn challenged this in supreme court. In December 2013 supreme court reversed Delhi high court judgement in “Suresh kumar Kaushal v. Naz foundation” and restored colonial-era law again .
2014: Shashi Tharoor, former under secretary general of united nations, and member of parliament from Thiruvananthapuram raised awareness using social media and introduced private – member bill which was immediately dismissed even before its introduction in parliament.
2016: Bharatanatyam exponent and choreographer , Navtej Singh Johar along with journalist Sunil Mehta , chef Ritu Dalmia , hoteliers Aman Nath and Keshav Suri and businesswoman Ayesha Kapur o filed a writ petition challenging 2013 supreme court judgement .
2018: on 6th of September , a landmark judgement was declared in “Navtej Singh Johar & ors. v Union of India thr. Secretary Ministry of Law” , which decriminalized consenting sex amongst homosexuals, thus scrapping sec 377 of the Indian Penal code ,1860. It was a unanimous decision delievered by 5 judge bench,
This marked the end of long going struggle of LGBTQ(Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender). and assured equal rights for is citizens regardless of their sexual orientation .
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