DECRIMINALISATION OF SECTION 377
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crapping a 158 year old
Victorian era law, the Supreme
Court, in a landmark judgment on
Sep. 6, 2018, legalized consensual
sexual relation among same sex
adults by striking down Sec 377 – a
momentous event, perhaps the first
step towards gradual embrace of
LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Transgender) community and
acceptance of alternative sexuality. In
a unanimous 5-0 judgement, the
bench led by Chief Justice Deepak
Misra, declared that the two bench
judge judgement in Dec 2013 which
had recriminalised Sec 377 was
"arbitrary, fallacious and retrograde".
In Dec 2013 in the Suresh
Koushal case the S.C. had reversed
a Delhi High Court judgment (of July
2009) which had decriminalized gay
sex among consenting adults by
striking down Sec 377. Thus it has
taken nine long years (2009-2018) for
the judiciary to reach the ultimate
scrapping of article 377.
In the four concurrent opinions
cumulatively running into 493 pages
that abhorred imposition of the
majoritarian view on the LGBT
community to snuff out their
fundamental rights, Chief Justice
Deepak Misra, writing on behalf of
Justice Khanwilkar and himself, said
targeting LGBT community members
for their sexual preference violated their
fundamental right to equality (Article
14), right to freedom of expression
(Article 19) and right to choice coupled
with right to dignity (Article 21).
The judgment has invoked mixed
reactions. Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh (RSS) said same sex is not
crime but normal. Muslim clerics and
Hindu outfits in Uttar Pradesh
denounced the SC verdict. Deoband
(UP) clerics termed it against Islam,
while Hindu Mahasabha said it “would
destroy Indian values”.
Historical Background
An article on homosexuality will
not be complete without incorporating
the history of Alan Mathison Turing (23
June 1912–7 June 1954). He was an
English computer scientist,
mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst,
philosopher and theoretical biologist.
He was honoured with prestigious titles
viz FRS (Fellow of Royal Society) and
OBE (Order of British Empire). He
was highly influential in the
development of theoretical computer
science, providing a formalisation of
the concepts of algorithm and
computation with the Turing Machine,
which can be considered a model of
a general purpose computer. Turing is
widely considered to be the father of
theoretical computer science and
artificial intelligence. However, he was
also a tragic figure; a hero who was
not fully recognized in his home
country during his lifetime due to his
homosexuality, which was then
considered a crime in Britain.
During the Second World War,
Turing worked for the Government
Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at