Section 377: As Supreme Court decriminalizes homosexuality, here is all about the act that you need to know
As the Supreme Court decriminalizes homosexuality on Thursday after a prolonged hearing, here is the necessary information about the section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that you need to know about.
According to IPC section 377, anyone who have voluntarily carnal intercourse against the order of nature with a man, woman or animal shall be given the punishment of imprisonment for life which may extend to 10 years. There is also fine for violating the act.
The section of Indian constitution reads “377. Unnatural offences.—Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with 1[imprisonment for life], or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine. Explanation.—Penetration is sufficient to constitute the carnal intercourse necessary to the offence described in this section”.
The section has been enforced in 1861 when there was British rule in India. The act was modeled on the Buggery Act of 1533).
It was an NGO, Naaz Foundation in 2001 that first raised the issue of Section and approached the Delhi high court. The Delhi High court had stricken down the section by legalizing the sex between consenting adults of the same gender.
However, the Supreme Court overturned the High court’s judgment in 2013 and restored the criminality of the sexual relationship between persons of the same sex. The Delhi HC decriminalized it in 2009.
In January 2018, five people filed a petition in the Supreme Court asking to review the Naaz Foundation judgment. First, the petition was heard by a three-member SC bench and later referred to a larger bench. The apex court also sought help from the Centre.
On July, the top court reserved its verdict on whether to decriminalize section 377 or not.
