The Supreme Court will hear on Tuesday a curative petition filed by gay activists and Naz Foundation seeking to cure “defects” in the judgment upholding the validity of Section 377 IPC, which criminalises homosexuality between two consenting adults.
In 2009, the Delhi High Court had held that Section 377 violated Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution. The apex court on December 11, 2013, set aside this ruling and upheld the validity of Section 377. On January 28, the apex court dismissed a batch of review petitions, challenging the judgment.
On Monday, senior counsel Anand Grover made a mention before a bench of Chief Justice P. Sathasivam and Justices Ranjan Gogoi and N.V. Ramana that during the chamber hearing on Tuesday, the Bench should also take into consideration the latest verdict in the “transgender case” highlighting how transgenders were subjected to ill-treatment and harassed under Section 377. The petitioners had already pleaded for a hearing in the open court as generally curative petitions are heard in the judge’s chamber.
