What is Section 377?

Section 377 also included consensual sexual acts of adults such as oral and anal sex in private
which were treated as unnatural and punishable.
Section 377 refers to 'unnatural offences' and says whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse
against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with
imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to
10 years, and shall also be liable to pay a fine.
Delhi HC's 2009 verdict
The issue of Section 377 was first raised by NGO Naaz Foundation, which had in 2001
approached the Delhi High Court which had decriminalised sex between consenting adults of
the same gender by holding the penal provision as "illegal". This 2009 judgement of the high
court was overturned in 2013 by the apex court which had also dismissed the review plea
against which the curative petitions were filed which are pending.
The apex court had commenced the hearing on the fresh writ petitions challenging
re-criminalisation of consensual gay sex between two adults, rejecting the Centre's plea seeking
postponement of the proceedings by four weeks.
It had in 2013 restored the criminality of the sexual relationship between persons of the same
sex, after the Delhi High Court had decriminalised it in 2009. At the outset of the hearing, the
five-judge bench on July 10 had made it clear that it was not going into the curative petitions
and would adjudicate on the fresh writ petitions in the matter.

Section 377 and child abuse

Child rights activists had criticised the Delhi HC verdict of de-criminalising homosexuality on the
ground that Section 377 was needed to tackle cases of child abuse. However, the enactment of
the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act 2012 removed

the need to use Section 377 as POCSO is more child-friendly and much more stringent.
Implications for heterosexuals
Section 377 also included consensual sexual acts of adults such as oral and anal sex in private
which were treated as unnatural and punishable.

The petitioners
The apex court heard the writ petitions filed by dancer Navtej Jauhar, journalist Sunil Mehra,
chef Ritu Dalmia, hoteliers Aman Nath and Keshav Suri and business executive Ayesha Kapur
and 20 former and current students of the IITs.
They have sought decriminalisation of consensual sex between two consenting adults of the
same sex by declaring section 377 of IPC as illegal and unconstitutional.
Is 'Section 377' legitimate?
Coming from different parts of the country with diverse religion, age, sex and other
backgrounds, the petitioners said that section 377 legitimises the stigma associated with sexual
orientation and its expression something which is essential, fundam
The Supreme Court has scrapped Section 377 of the IPC, decriminalising the 158-year-old
colonial law which criminalises consensual gay sex.

Acceptance of gay relationships will help control spread of AIDS

Anjali Gopalan, the executive director of the Naz Foundation, had told Down To Earth that the
repeal of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code would not solve India’s HIV-AIDS problem, but
would surely help in making measures to solve it effective.

“It is of course, not a silver bullet. We need a multi-pronged approach in solving the AIDS issue
by involving not just the homosexual community but also heterosexual sections of society. We
have to ensure that information, confidential testing and medication are accessible to the people
who most need it. There are many things to be done if the AIDS problem is to be solved,”
Gopalan told Down To Earth

“But the repeal of Section 377 can surely make measures to tackle the AIDS problem more
effective. When one is dealing with a disease like HIV-AIDS, it involves a section like
homosexuals. If you are going to tell these people that they should not feel good about
themselves and if you won’t give them protection, then we are going nowhere,” added Gopalan.

Stigma linked to LGBTQ community will go when homosexuality is decriminalised

She elaborated: “This archaic law makes access to information limited. When gay sex gets
branded as a “criminal activity”, police uses the law to harass gay people. They cannot then
identify themselves to procure condoms because what they are doing is illegal. Moreover,
certain doctors misuse the law to give shock treatment to gays to make them straight. This law
is thus very negative.”
The bench then said the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) community
faced the stigma because of the criminality attached to consensual same-sex relationship.

"Once the criminality (under section 377) goes, then everything will go (social stigma,
discrimination etc)," it said.

"Over the years, we have created an environment in the Indian society which has led to
deep-rooted discrimination against people of same sex involved in a consensual relationship
and this has impacted their mental health also," the bench said on the third day of crucial
hearing to decide the constitutional validity of Section 377 of the IPC.