Section 377 Verdict: Supreme Court decriminalizes homosexuality; Twitterati says ‘right to equality wins’

The Supreme Court has decriminalized the homosexuality in India on Thursday. Therefore, now Section 377 of Indian Penal Code is not a crime for the LGBTQ+ community.

A five-judge Constitution bench which is headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud, Rohinton Fali Nariman, A M Khanwilkar and Indu Malhotra, issued the verdict on a bunch of petitions filed to scrap the law. The bench had earlier reserved its verdict on July 17.

The five-judge bench observed that criminalizing gay sex is irrational and indefensible. Supreme Court also said that the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender community is also having the same rights as other citizens. Respect for each other's rights and others are supreme humanity, observed the bench unanimously while saying that the right to live with dignity is right.

As soon as the Supreme Court announced its judgment on Section 377 then the people on social media also expressed their thoughts and views on the decision.
Some reacted positively while some called it a wrong decision.

Here’s how Twitterati reacted:

Some people reacted negatively:

However, Section 377 of the IPC was the 157-year-old law criminalized certain sexual acts which are termed as ‘unnatural offence’ and a punishment of 10-year jail term was given.
The law punished "carnal inter¬course against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal" and thus had bigger implications for same-sex relationships.

Earlier in 2009, Supreme Court has decriminalized homosexuality but in 2013, it was restored by the apex court.

In 2018, the case reopened in 2018 and the apex court began hearing petitions against the ban on 10th July. The debate over the section was emotional which targetted the right to freedom and privacy in the world’s largest democratic country. However, the bench made it clear that it was not going into the curative petitions and would adjudicate on the fresh writ petitions in the matter. Between July 10 and July 17, the bench heard detailed arguments for four days. On July 17, it reserved its verdict.

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Also read:  Section 377 Verdict: Supreme Court says ‘homosexuality no longer a crime’