Homosexuality finally Legal in India – The law comes of age

Today the Delhi High Court delivered its much awaited judgment on the legality of Article 377 of the IPC as it pertains to homosexuals. In line with previous opinions from the court, it maintained that criminalizing a private act between people where no person is harmed is beyond the jurisdiction of the state and violates the right to freedom that is guaranteed in the Indian Constitution.

Image Credit: Thushan Amarasiriwardena / LongJaunt.com

Legalizing homosexuality in India
Legalizing homosexuality in India

The judgment is a 105 page pdf and fully details all the arguments used by the NAZ Foundation in favor of repealing 377 as well as those of the Government who wanted to keep homosexuality in India illegal. Surprisingly for me, the entire document is in plain English and is quite easy to understand – not in “legalese” at all. It’s very wide in scope and examines issues of privacy, previous judgments (both from within India as well as from other countries) and counters each of the main points of the government (specifically the home ministry who at that time said it would “corrupt society”)

The Delhi HC said that just because there is social opposition to a move does not mean that the rights of individuals can be trampled upon. In doing so, it showcased the robustness of the Indian Democracy and sent a powerful message to those would want us to be ruled by the mob.

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12 thoughts on “Homosexuality finally Legal in India – The law comes of age”

  1. I think lot of people need education on what it means to be leagal. Homosexuality is still illigal until it is legalized by an act of the parliament. The rest have to fight in courts and only thing they get is advantage of a precedence in a court of law.

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  2. SC overturned this in 2013. It is very lazy on us that all those old laws formed during British rule have not been reviewed. They should all be reviewed and what makes sense now should be retained. Thank you.

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