•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 ten years, and
–shall also be liable to fine
•Section intended to punish
–Sodomy: Anal intercourse
–Bestiality: sex between a person and an animal
• Naz Foundation v. Government of NCT of Delhi, 2010 Cr LJ 94 (Del.)
–Naz Foundation filed a petition in 2001 seeking legalisation of homosexual intercourse between consenting adults
–First such petition filed by AIDS Bhedbhav Virodhi Andolan in 1994
–In 2003, Delhi HC refused to consider the petition stating that the petitioners had no locus standi
–On appeal, Supreme Court disagreed with the HC and stated that Naz had standing to file PIL
–In 2006, National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) filed an affidavit stating that enforcing s. 377 violated LGBT rights
–Other social activists joined this petition
• Judgment delivered by the HC on July 2, 2009
–Rights to dignity and privacy are included in Right to Life and Liberty under A. 21
–Therefore criminalizing consensual gay sex violated these rights
–It also violates art. 14 (right to equality) because it creates unreasonable classification and targets homosexuals as a class
–The word ‘sex’ does not only include biological sex but also sexual orientation and thus such discrimination violates art. 15
–S. 377 is unconstitutional insofar as it criminalises consensual sexual acts of adults in private
• Supreme Court on 11 December, 2013
– Suresh Kumar Koushal & Anr vs Naz Foundation & Ors, 2014 (1) SCC 1
–“we hold that Section 377 IPC does not suffer from the vice of unconstitutionality and the declaration made by the Division Bench of the High court is legally unsustainable”
•Notwithstanding this verdict,
–the competent legislature shall be free
–to consider the desirability and propriety of deleting Section 377 IPC from the statute book or
–amend the same as per the suggestion made by the Attorney General.