On Day 2 of the Supreme Court hearing the petitions to scrap Section 377, the Centre has said that it is okay with consensual acts between adults in private but seeks clarification on bestiality. It has passed the buck on  Supreme Court, and has asked the latter to decide on the constitutionality of Section 377.

Menaka Guruswamy, a lawyer for one of the petitioners (IIT Students and Alumni), tells Supreme Court that when the students came to her with the case, she was struck by how Section 377 had affected many lives. She has said, "Homosexuality doesn't affect a person's career and growth. People have cleared civil service examinations, IIT examinations and other top-level competitive exams."

Guruswamy further pointed out that Section 377 is a violation of Article 15 because the discrimination revolves around the sex of the partner. Referring to a notification dated July 2 by Indian Psychiatric Society which states homosexuality is not a psychiatric disorder, she said that Section 377 discriminates on the basis of the gender of the partners.

She further said that it is based on Victorian morality that people should have sex only with opposite gender since sex is only for procreation".

Lawyer Anand Grover dealing with how courts have interpreted "carnal intercourse against order of nature" said, "The orifice for penetration was interpreted to mean insertion even between thighs of another person came to be penalised."

"Technically Section 377 criminalises certain acts only but in its application, it is not used against consenting sexual acts between heterosexual adults but is used against LGBT community, said lawyer Shyam Divan.

The Supreme court has ended their session for the day and the hearing will again resume on Thursday.

The case is being heard by the newly reconstituted bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra and comprise Justices R F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra. They examined the petitions claiming that the 2013 judgment was wrong.  In 2013, Supreme Court had reversed the High Court order, and pointed out that those indulging in gay sex will be prosecuted and sentenced under Section 377.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 11, 2018 01:12 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).