Bhopal, Sep 6: After the Supreme Court's landmark verdict on Section 377 on Thursday, former Madhya Pradesh Finance Minister Raghavji, who has been accused of sodomy said now that Section 377 has been decriminalised, his case will be closed. Raghavji was arrested in July 2013 from a flat found locked from outside following sodomy allegations levelled against him by his domestic servant. According to a tweet by ANI, Raghavji said as the Supreme Court gave its landmark judgment and decriminalising consensual gay sex, he has lost the opportunity to clear his stand.

"Now that Sec 377 has been decriminalised...my case will be closed but  I want to clarify that I've not done anything like that and this incident never happened", the former minister said.

Raghavji further added that his case is a different matter because there was no unnatural sex involved and has been falsely made under conspiracy. "My case is a different matter because there was no unnatural sex involved. This matter has been falsely made, under conspiracy. Nothing like that ever happened. But SC has decriminalised Section 377 which closes the matter by default", he added.

Raghavji, 79, was produced before Chief Judicial Magistrate Sanjay Pandey who sent him to judicial custody till July 22 and taken to Central Jail. According to a report by PTI, he told the court about his health problems after which the judge directed the jail authorities to ensure his proper medical care inside the prison.

On Thursday, a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court unanimously decriminalised part of the 158-year-old colonial law under Section 377 of the IPC which criminalises consensual unnatural sex, saying it violated the rights to equality. The constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra termed the part of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalises consensual unnatural sex as irrational, indefensible and manifestly arbitrary.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 06, 2018 11:45 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).