SC to hear in open court curative plea challenging its judgement criminalizing homosexuality.
New Delhi : The Supreme Court will hear in open court on February 2 a curative petition of gay activists challenging its verdict criminalizing homosexuality.
A bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur agreed to hear the curative petition filed by gay rights activists and NGO Naz Foundation against the apex court’s December 11, 2013, judgment upholding validity of Section 377 of the IPC, which deals with unnatural sexual offences, and the January 2014 order, by which it had dismissed a bunch of review petitions.
A curative petition is the last judicial resort available for redressal of grievances in court which is normally decided by a judge in-chamber. In rare cases, such petitions are given an open court hearing.
The petitioners, including the NGO, which has been spearheading the legal battle on behalf of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community, has contended that there was an error in the judgment delivered on December 11, 2013, as it was based on an old law.
“The judgment was reserved on March 27, 2012, but the verdict was delivered after around 21 months and during this period lots of changes took place, includ-ing amendment in laws, which were not considered by the bench which delivered the judgment,” the plea had said.
The gay rights activists had said thousands from the LGBT community became open about their sexual identity during the past four years after the high court decriminalized gay sex and they were now facing the threat of being prosecuted.
They have further contended that criminalising gay sex amounts to violation of fundamental rights of the LGBT community. The apex court had earlier dismissed a batch of review petitions filed by the Centre and gay rights activists against its December 2013 verdict declaring gay sex an offence punishable with up to life imprisonment.
