(New York) – India’s Supreme Court agreed on February 2, 2016, to hear an appeal of its 2013 decision that upheld a discriminatory law criminalizing same-sex relations, Human Rights Watch said today. The Indian government should file an affidavit with the court to set aside the country’s “sodomy” law and uphold the fundamental rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.

“The Supreme Court has provided real hope to LGBT people in India by agreeing to review its 2013 ruling that favored discrimination over equal rights for all,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The Indian government should seize the opportunity and weigh in to make clear that discrimination, harassment, and other abuses of LGBT people have no place in contemporary society.”

 

LGBT rights activists in Mumbai cover themselves with a rainbow flag after the Supreme Court announced on February 2, 2016 that it would hear an appeal of its 2013 decision that upheld a discriminatory law criminalizing same-sex relations. © 2016 Reuters
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LGBT rights activists in Mumbai, India, celebrate after a Supreme Court announcement of a prior appeal of its 2013 decision on section 377, February 2, 2016.

 © 2016 Reuters

The law, section 377 of the Indian penal code, punishes “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” with up to life in prison. The law had been struck down in 2009 by the Delhi High Court, which said the law was a violation of fundamental rights to equality, non-discrimination, life, and personal liberty guaranteed by the Indian constitution. The court had noted how criminalization of same-sex relations had a negative impact on the lives of LGBT people.

The 2009 ruling said: “Even when the penal provisions are not enforced, they reduce gay men or women to what one author has referred to as ‘unapprehended felons,’ thus entrenching stigma and encouraging discrimination in different spheres of life. Apart from misery and fear, a few of the more obvious consequences are harassment, blackmail, extortion and discrimination.”

The Indian government chose not to challenge the High Court judgment. But following appeals against the verdict by some individuals and religious groups, a two-judge panel of the Supreme Court overturned that decision in 2013, ruling that amending the law was the responsibility of the legislature. Human rights activists, lawyers, and medical professionals filed curative petitions to revise the previous ruling, saying that section 377 denies privacy and dignity and that upholding it results in a miscarriage of justice. 

 

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