It is a wise and welcome decision of the Delhi High Court to declare that 377 of IPC is violative of 21, 14, 15 of the constitution, belatedly nevertheless. Now the same sex marriage/partnership needs to be legalised, family laws must be amended. More over, laws relating to rape are also in dire need of drastic amendment.
This is the first positive move/achievement in a long battle On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 6:44 PM, Sukla Sen <sukla....@gmail.com> wrote: > > http://www.indianexpress.com/news/historic-judgment-delhi-hc-legalises-gay-sex/484039/ > > <http://www.indianexpress.com/news/historic-judgment-delhi-hc-legalises-gay-sex/484039/>Historic > judgment: Delhi HC legalises gay sex *Agencies* Posted online: Thursday , > Jul 02, 2009 at 1158 hrs > > *New Delhi : *In a breakthrough judgment, the Delhi High Court on Thursday > legalised gay sex among consenting adults holding that the law making it a > criminal offence violates fundamental rights. > > However, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalises > homosexuality, will continue for non-consensual and non-vaginal sex. > > "We declare section 377 of IPC in so far as it criminalises consensual > sexual acts of adults in private is violative of Articles 14, 21 and 15 of > the Constitution," a Bench comprising Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice S > Murlidhar said. > > The High Court said 'the provision of section 377 IPC will continue to > govern non-consensual penile non-vaginal sex and penile non vaginal sex > involving minors'. > > The court clarified that "by adults we mean everyone who is 18 years of age > or above". > > It further said that this judgement will hold till Parliament chooses to > amend the law. > > "In our view Indian Constitutional Law does not permit the statutory > criminal law to be held captive by the popular misconception of who the > LGBTs (lesbian gay bisexual transgender) are. > > "It cannot be forgotten that discrimination is antithesis of equality and > that it is the recognition of equality which will foster dignity of every > individual," the Bench said in its 105-page judgement. > > The UPA was initially in favour of repealing Section 377 with Law Minister > Veerappa Moily calling the law “outdated.” > > But the Centre later backtracked with both Moily and Health Minister Ghulam > Nabi Azad calling for “consensus.” Section 377 criminalises “carnal > intercourse against the order of nature,” a phrase interpreted to ban > homosexuality. > > The petitioners Naz Foundation (along with an activist group ‘Voices > Against 377’) argued that the law violated the constitutional rights of > homosexuals and that the section should be “read down” to exclude > “consensual sex between adults” from its ambit, in effect decriminalising > homosexuality in India. > > The previous UPA government had opposed the petition. Former MP B P > Singhal, who “intervened” to oppose the petition, said that if the HC > decided to “read down” Section 377, he would go to the Supreme Court in > appeal. > > (*with PTI inputs*) > > > > > > -- W A Laskar Freelance Reporter and Human Rights Activist with Barak Human Rights Protection Committee, http://bhrpc.net.googlepages.com 15, Panjabari Road, Darandha, Six Mile, Guwahati-781037, Assam, India Cell: +919401134314 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to greenyouth@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to greenyouth+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
