In a historic judgement, the Delhi High Court on Thursday legalised consensual sex among gays.
The court struck down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Read the report here. In a slap on the face of cynical consensus-mongers [sadly, our law and health ministers are among them ], the court had this to say:
"In our view Indian Constitutional Law does not permit the statutory criminal law to be held captive by the popular misconception of who the LGBTs (lesbian gay bisexual transgender) are. It cannot be forgotten that discrimination is antithesis of equality and that it is the recognition of equality which will foster dignity of every individual," the Bench said in its 105-page judgement. [Bold emphasis added]
5 Comments:
Let me continue the tradition of citing myself and direct to you my comment on the subjecthere.
It could just be a landmark judgement;
Although, lets see what the government does about this predicament.
A poet could not but be gay, in such a jocund company!
Vyasa.
You think the 'government' will do something about this?.. No less an entity than Deoband threw its weight against the issue - and the proposal is dead in the water.
"The court struck down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). "
This is patently false. Section 377 still stands (thank heavens for this; paedophilia is a crime).
What the judgement says is that consensual sex between two (only two ?) adults of the same gender is now beyond the purview of section 377. In other words a homosexual act (mind you an "act" not "relationship") in the confines of individual privacy is merely decriminalized.
I'd be very curious to see how many cases of homosexual sex have been litigated under Section 377, historically. Not many I imagine. In other words, by and large no one has been traditionally interested in the private behavior of suspected homosexuals anyway.
My general point: While it was a thoroughly welcome judgement, there was hardly anything "landmark" about it. In legal terms, this was a no-brainer. That this sounds fantastic is a testament to the enormous dead-wood of arcane laws from imperial times we're stuck with, much less a progressive judiciary.
I am curious to know what your opinion would be about gay marriage and gay people having kids..(like in the US). Would the statement "It cannot be forgotten that discrimination is antithesis of equality and that it is the recognition of equality which will foster dignity of every individual" still hold true when eventually activists try to push for further reform?
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