Should Section 377 de criminalized or not? SC arguments to continue TODAY

After a day-long of courtroom battle on whether Section 377 should be scrapped or not yesterday, the Supreme Court has decided to resume the case TODAY.

A new five-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra will, on Wednesday, resume hearing the 2013 apex court order that criminalized homosexuality.

The new five-judge bench headed by CJI Dipak Misra comprises Justice RF Nariman, Justice AM Khanwilkar, Justice DY Chandrachud, and Justice Indu Malhotra.

During the hearing today, the bench said it would examine the constitutional validity of section 377 of the IPC and the fundamental rights of the LGBTQ (Lesbians, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) community.

Appearing for petitioner Keshav Suri, former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, stressed that with a change in the society there is a change in the values. He added, “What was moral 160 years ago might not be moral today.”

Rohatgi argued that the hearing will impact on how “society looks at these people”.

READ ALSO: Homosexuality is a genetic flaw, against Hindutva” says BJP leader Swamy

What is Section 377:

Section 377 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 10 years, and shall also be liable to pay a fine.

The case:

In 2013, the apex court had set aside the 2009 order of the Delhi High Court and restored the criminality of sexual relationship between persons of the same sex. Delhi High Court had observed that section 377 was in violation of the fundamental rights of individuals and deemed it unconstitutional.

The three-judge Supreme court bench had earlier observed that “What is natural for one may not be natural for the other, but the confines of law cannot trample or curtail the inherent rights embedded with an individual under Article 21 of the constitution.”

The apex court on Monday dismissed a plea by the government seeking to defer the case by four weeks.

The right to privacy hearing had on January 8 said that LGBTQ community members’ sexual orientation had an inseparable relationship with their fundamental right to privacy and accepted that the SC had erred in denying them that right.