Activists file new legal challenge at Indian Supreme Court over gay sex ban
Campaigners in India have begun a new challenge against the Supreme Court’s decision to recriminalise homosexuality.
The Naz Foundation, an HIV support group, yesterday filed a curative petition challenging last December’s verdict.
It argues that the court made a “mistake” in its judgment and is guilty of a “gross miscarriage of justice”.
The Supreme Court threw out a 2009 New Delhi High Court decision that ruled the law was unconstitutional.
It means offenders can be punished with up to 10 years in jail – although prosecutions are rare.
In explaining the ruling the bench said: “While reading down Section 377, the High Court overlooked that a miniscule fraction of the country’s population constitutes lesbians, gays, bisexuals or transgenders, and in the more than 150 years past, less than 200 persons have been prosecuted for committing offence under Section 377, and this cannot be made a sound basis for declaring that Section ultra vires Articles 14, 15 and 21.”
Human rights groups expressed worries that this would render LGBT Indians vulnerable to police harassment and prosecution.
In response, the Naz Foundation stated that it would file a petition for review of the court’s decision.
