12 December 2013
The ruling by India’s Supreme Court on December 11, 2013, that same-sex conduct between consenting adults remained a criminal offense is a setback for the rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) people, Human Rights Watch said today. The court reversed a landmark 2009 Delhi High Court decision that a colonial-era law infringed upon fundamental rights provided under the constitution.
The Indian government should immediately seek to decriminalize adult consensual same-sex relations, Human Rights Watch said. Currently, same-sex relations are subject to section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which punishes “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” with up to life in prison. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of section 377 and ruled that the Delhi High Court decision was “legally unsustainable.” It said it was now up to the legislature “to consider the desirability and propriety of deleting Section 377” of the penal code.
“The Supreme Court’s ruling is a deeply disappointing setback for basic rights to privacy, equality, and non-discrimination,” said Graeme Reid, director of the LGBT rights program at Human Rights Watch. “Now the government should do what it should have done in the first place and decriminalize consensual same-sex relations between adults.”
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