Supreme Court to hear arguments on decriminalisation of homosexuality tomorrow

The Supreme Court will hear tomorrow the issue of legalising and decriminalising homosexuality among consenting adults in private.

A bench of Justice GS Singhvi and Justice AK Ganguly will hear a bunch of petitions filed by homosexual rights activists and political, social and religious organisations who have opposed a Delhi high court verdict of 2009 decriminalising homosexual behaviour in private.

People and organisations from different fields have come out in support of or against the path-breaking verdict, sparking a controversy.

Several political, social and religious organisations have asked the Supreme Court to give a final verdict on the issue.

Senior BJP leader BP Singhal, who had opposed legalisation of homosexuality in the high court, has challenged the verdict in the Supreme Court saying that such acts are illegal, immoral and against the Indian ethos.

Expressing similar sentiments, religious organisations like the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, Utkal Christian Council and Apostolic Churches Alliance have opposed the high court's verdict.

The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam, astrologer Suresh Kumar Kaushal and yoga guru Baba Ramdev have also opposed the verdict in the apex court.

The high court had on July 2, 2009, declared the penal provision (under section 377 of the Indian Penal Code) prohibiting homosexual practices among consenting adults in private as unconstitutional.

Earlier, such practices, if detected, could result in a criminal offence punishable with imprisonment of a term that could extend for life.

The parties opposing the high court verdict contended that homosexual acts, by all standards, were "unnatural" and could not be permitted.

The apex court had declined to stay the verdict, saying, "Any interim order against the high court verdict, if necessary, will be considered only after hearing the parties concerned."