A two judge bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday referred a petition filed by three LGBT celebrities seeking to legalise gay sex to the Chief Justice of India (CJI), saying the matter was already pending before a constitution bench.
Senior advocate Arvind Datar told a bench of justice SA Bobde and justice Ashok Bhushan that it was the first time that LGBT celebrities themselves have approached the court against the archaic Section 377 of the IPC that criminalises homosexuality.
The bench said the matter was already pending before a constitution bench and referred it to CJI TS Thakur for appropriate orders.
Now, the petition filed by the celebs is likely to be taken up along with a curative petition on the issue that was sent to a constitution bench in February this year.
The Supreme Court had in December 2013 reversed a Delhi high court verdict that de-criminalised consensual homosexual acts. The high court in July 2013 declared unconstitutional a part of Section 377 that criminalises unnatural sex, saying “the section denies a gay person a right to full personhood…”
Though it overturned the high court order, the Supreme Court left it to Parliament to take the final call on the controversial law. The majority view in the political class is against relaxing Section 377. Several religious groups, too, are of the same opinion.
Minister Gowda refused to be drawn in and said the government would make its argument in the court, refusing to elaborate, saying the matter was sub judice.
The All India Muslim personal law board and a Christian group are opposing changes in Section 377, saying they had “cogent” arguments against de-criminalising homosexuality. They were among the petitioners who successfully opposed the high court verdict in the Supreme Court.