IPC's Section 377: Supreme Court to hear plea for relook on verdict on gay sex today

February 2, 2016

New Delhi, Feb 2: The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hold an open court hearing of the curative petition by NGO Naz Foundation seeking relook at its verdict upholding the validity of Indian Penal Code's section 377 criminalising gay sex.

gaysex

A bench of three seniormost judges - Chief Justice T.S. Thakur, Justice Anil R. Dave and Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar - would hold the open court of the issue that caused flutters both in legal circles and amongst gay rights activitsts after top court by its December 12, 2013 upheld the validity of section 377.

The apex court by its order of December 12, 2013 and subsequently in the review petition on January 28, 2014, upheld the validity of section 377, finding no constitutional infirmity in the penal provision that criminalises homosexuality.

Upholding the validity of section 377, the court had set aside the Delhi High Court verdict of July 2, 2009 by which it had read down section 377 and decriminalising consensual sex between the adults of same gender.

The then bench of Chief Justice P.Sathasivam, Justice R.M.Lodha, Justice H.L.Dattu and Justice S.J.Mukhopadhaya (all retired since then) had on April 3, 2014, directed the hearing of the curative petition in open court after they considered the plea by Naz Foundation in their chambers.

The NGO had moved the Supreme Court seeking to cure "gross miscarriage of justice" in its judgment upholding the validity of section 377. It had contended that 2013 amendment to section 375, which deals with rape, had held consensual sex between an adult male and woman was not an offence.

The curative petition had said that by implication, such sexual acts between man and woman, which are consensual, are no longer prohibited.

Consequently, these consensual acts between man and woman have been taken out of the ambit of section 377, otherwise the amended Section 375 would be rendered redundant, it contended, adding that section 377 now effectively only criminalises all forms of penetrative sex, including, penile-anal sex and penile oral sex, which makes it ex facie discriminatory against homosexual men and transgender persons and thus violative of article 14 of the constitution.

It had said that the amendments to section 375 were carried out after the judgment in the gay sex case was reserved and the parties did not have a chance to address the court on the issue, and the court ought to have heard the parties on the effect of the amendments to section 375 on Section 377.

The curative petition said that court had erred in upholding the classification between carnal intercourse in the ordinary course of nature and carnal intercourse against the order of nature under section 377, without recording a finding on the carnal intercourse against the order of nature. And whether there is a rational nexus with the object of legislation on this count.

The impugned judgment, it said, "reflects an issue bias against the LGBT persons, as evident from such observations like "the so-called rights of LGBT persons" and "miniscule fraction of the country's population" which vitiates the judgment and renders it a nullity.

Comments

TR
 - 
Tuesday, 2 Feb 2016

This is the period nearing end of the world, where BAD will over take up on GOOD. LIES and DECEPTION will over take TRUTH.

MAY ALLAH SUBHANAHU save us from the company of such People.

PONDER
 - 
Tuesday, 2 Feb 2016

Prophet Lut lived at the same time as Prophet Ibrahim. The old testament says that LUT (AS) was Prophet Ibrahim's nephew and that they traveled some distance together in Ibrahim's long journeys. Lut was sent as a messenger to one of the Ibrahim's neighboring communities. These people as QURAN tells us, practiced a perversion unknown to the world up to then Namely SODOMY. When LUT told them to give up this Perversion and brought them ALLAH's warning THEY DENIED HIM. refused his prophethood and carried on with their DESIRE. In the END people were destroyed by a DREADFUL DISASTER.
The QURAN: (26 :161 - 174)
When their brother LUT said to them \Will YOU not fear ALLAH\"?
Indeed, Im to YOU a trustworthy Messenger.
So fear ALLAH and obey me
And I do not ask for it any PAYMENT. My payment is only from the lord of the worlds.
DO YOU approach MALES among the worlds
And leave what YOUR LORD has created for YOU as MATES? But YOU (GaY) are a people TRANSGRESSING.\"
They said \"If you do not desist, O LUT, YOu wil surely be of those evicted.\"
He Said \"Indeed I'm toward your deed, of those who detest (it)
My Lord, save me and my family from (the consequence of) WHAT THEY DO\"
So We (ALLAH) saved him and his family, all,
Except an old women those who remained behind.
Then We destroyed the others.
And we rained upon them a rain (of stones) and evil was the rain of those who were WARNED.
Indeed in that is a SIGN, but MOST of them were not to be BELIEVERS>"

AK
 - 
Tuesday, 2 Feb 2016

I hope india will not fall for such dirty acts & follow the evils agenda which is injected from america.
Ya ALLAH save us from this evil act becoming legal.

AK
 - 
Tuesday, 2 Feb 2016

I hope india will not fall for such dirty acts & follow the evils agenda which is injected from america.
Ya ALLAH save us from this evil act becoming legal.

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News Network
April 3,2020

New Delhi, April 3: The total number of coronavirus cases in India on Friday climbed to 2301, including 156 cured and discharged and 56 deaths, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

At present, there are 2088 COVID-19 active cases in the country.

"A total number of COVID-19 positive cases rises to 2301 in India, including 156 cured/discharged, 56 deaths and 1 migrated," said the Health Department.

The highest number of positive cases of coronavirus was reported from Maharashtra at 335, including 16 deaths, followed by Tamil Nadu (309 and 6 deaths) and Kerala (286 and 2 deaths).

There are 219 coronavirus positive cases in the national capital, including 8 cured and discharged and 4 deaths.

The states which have crossed 100-mark for COVID-19 positive cases also include Andhra Pradesh (132), Karnataka (124), Rajasthan (133) and Telangana (107).

While 18 people were detected positive for coronavirus in Chandigarh, 70 cases were confirmed from Jammu and Kashmir and 14 from Ladakh.

In North-East, one COVID-19 case each has been confirmed from Mizoram and Assam, and two in Manipur.

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News Network
February 14,2020

New Delhi, Feb 14: AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to his swearing-in ceremony scheduled to take place at the Ramlila Maidan on February 16, senior party leader Gopal Rai said on Friday.

Rai, the convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party's Delhi unit, said a letter was sent to the prime minister on Friday morning.

All seven Delhi MPs and eight newly-elected BJP MLAs have also been invited for the oath-taking ceremony, Rai told news agency.

No chief minister or political leaders from other states will be part of the event as it will be a "Delhi-specific" ceremony, Rai had said on Thursday.

Kejriwal, through front-page advertisements in newspapers, has urged Delhiites to attend his oath-taking ceremony as he is set to become the chief minister of Delhi for the third consecutive term.

Kejriwal will take oath as Delhi Chief minister along with his cabinet at Ramlila Maidan at 10 am on Sunday.

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Agencies
February 17,2020

New Delhi, Feb 17: The Supreme Court said on Monday that people have a fundamental right to protest against a law but the blocking of public roads is a matter of concern and there has to be a balancing factor.

Hearing pleas over the road blocks due to the ongoing protests at Shaheen Bagh against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), a bench comprising Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph said its concern is about what will happen if people start protesting on roads.

Democracy works on expressing views but there are lines and boundaries for it, the bench said.

It asked senior advocate Sanjay Hegde and advocate Sadhana Ramachandran to talk to Shaheen Bagh protestors and persuade them to move to an alternative site where no public place is blocked.

The matter has been posted for next hearing on February 24.

People have a fundamental right to protest but the thing which is troubling us is the blocking of public roads, the bench said.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said Shaheen Bagh protestors should not be given a message that every institution is on its knees trying to persuade them on this issue.

The apex court said that if nothing works, we will leave it to the authorities to deal with the situation.

Protestors have made their made their point and the protests have gone on for quite some time, it said.

Restrictions have been imposed on the Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh stretch and the Okhla underpass, which were closed on December 15 last year due to the protests against CAA and Register of Citizens.

The top court had earlier said the anti-CAA protesters at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh cannot block public roads and create inconvenience for others.

The apex court was hearing an appeal filed by advocate Amit Sahni, who had approached the Delhi high court seeking directions to the Delhi Police to ensure smooth traffic flow on the Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh stretch, which was blocked by anti-CAA protesters on December 15.

While dealing with Sahni's plea, the high court had asked local authorities to deal with the situation keeping in mind law and order.

Separately, former BJP MLA Nand Kishore Garg has filed a petition in the apex court seeking directions to the authorities to remove the protestors from Shaheen Bagh.

One of the pleas has sought laying down of comprehensive and exhaustive guidelines relating to outright restrictions for holding protests or agitations leading to obstruction of public place.

In his plea, Garg has said that law enforcement machinery was being "held hostage to the whims and fancies of the protesters" who have blocked vehicular and pedestrian movement from the road connecting Delhi to Noida.

State has the duty to protect fundamental rights of citizen who were continuously being harassed by the blockage of arterial road, it said.

"It is disappointing that the state machinery is muted and a silent spectator to hooliganism and vandalism of the protesters who are threatening the existential efficacy of the democracy and the rule of law and had already taken the law and order situation in their own hand," the plea had said.

In his appeal, Sahni had sought supervision of the situation in Shaheen Bagh, where several women are sitting on protest, by a retired Supreme Court judge or a sitting judge of the Delhi High Court.

Sahni has said in his plea that protests in Shaheen Bagh has inspired similar demonstrations in other cities and to allow it to continue would set a wrong precedent.

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