New Delhi, September 5: Supreme Court will finally pronounce their verdict on Section 377 tomorrow, September 6 at 10:30 am. The case is being heard by the newly reconstituted bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra and comprises of Justices R F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra.
On July 17, the Apex Court had reserved its verdict on whether to decriminalise Section 377, the archaic law which criminalises homosexuality. The SC asked all the counsel who argued for and against 377 to submit their written submissions. What is Section 377 of IPC? Know All About the Law on Homosexuality & LGBTQ Rights.
Section 377 refers to 'unnatural offences' and says whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, will get life imprisonment, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 10 years, and shall also be liable to pay a fine. This archaic law dates back to 1861, and the ambit extends to any sexual union involving penile insertion.
During the last hearing session, the Centre passed the buck on Supreme Court and said that the Constitutionality of 377 is to be decided by the Court. CJI Dipak Misra stated that constitutional questions cannot be decided by referendum when one lawyer argued that popular opinion should be examined to decide Section 377.
All eyes will be around the crucial verdict and we really hope that it will bring a ray of hope for people in the LGBTQ community.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 05, 2018 04:50 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).