Supreme Court Of India’s Verdict On Section 377

In a landmark verdict – Navtej Singh Johar & ors vs Union of India the Supreme Court today scrapped the controversial Section 377; a 157 year old colonial law on consensual gay sex.

The Supreme Court reversed its own decision and said Section 377 is irrational and arbitrary. LGBT Community has same rights as of any ordinary citizen. Respect for each others rights is supreme humanity. Now sex between two consenting adults of the same sex is not a crime.

LGBT community who have been living under fear of prosecution can now live without fear and stigma. Sustenance of identity is the pyramid of life. LGBT community posses rights like others. They cannot be marginalised from the society.

After the passing of this judgement no one can escape from their individualism. Society is now better for individualism. To deny LGBT community of their right to sexual orientation is a denial of their citizenship and a violation of their privacy.

Each and every single citizen of this country is having freedom to chose, holds right of privacy in their individual sphere.

Autonomy of an individual is important. He or she can not surrender it to anyone. Homosexuality is not a mental disorder and, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a violation of Freedom of Expression.

Homosexual people do not want to have special privileges. They just want to have the same rights as heterosexuals, nothing more, and nothing less. It had noted that sexual orientation was an essential attribute of privacy and that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is deeply offensive to the dignity and self-worth of the individual.

Today’s judgement heralds a new dawn for personal liberty and is a major victory for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community that has been fighting persistently hard to legalise gay sex.

“The law must be interpreted as per the requirement of changing times”, said the SC in its judgement.

This short article has been written by Arushi who is a final year law student from New Delhi, India. You too are welcome to write.