The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to reconsider its 2013 verdict criminalising homosexuality and referred to a larger bench the plea challenging the penal provision, observing the societal morality "changes from age to age". The Apex Court also issued a notice to the Center's response on a writ petition filed by five members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community, who said they live in fear of police due to their natural sexual orientation and preferences.
In 2012, the Delhi High Court struck down Section 377 of IPC but it was set aside by the Supreme Court in the 2013 judgement on the grounds that it is the job of the legislature to do away with it, and it is not the job of the court to legislate.
The 2016 law was passed in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 2015 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide.
"The top court's judgment upholding validity of Section 377 appears to hurt the sexual preferences of individuals", said the three-judge bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud.
Risky wind chills expected Saturday; warmer temps Sunday
Single-digit temperatures will be mixed with wind gusts of more than 20 miles per hour to create the extremely cold air. But, on Sunday , Quinlan said high pressure will move off the east coast and "bring in milder air".
Arvind Datar was speaking for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community and said that section 377 was not a "reasonable restriction".
Chapter XVI, Section 377 of the IPC criminalises all those sexual activities that are "against the order of nature" including the homosexual sexual activities and consider them the "unnatural offences". Several supreme court judges noted that sexual orientation fell under the privacy umbrella.
The court said, "The determination of the order of nature is not a constant phenomenon". The court also issued a notice to the Centre seeking its response to a writ petition filed by five members of the LGBT community.
"The court's inaction today means that LGBTQ Mississipians will continue to face harassment and discrimination", said Mason Davis, head of Freedom for All Americans, a bipartisan campaign to secure nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ persons.
