ForumIAS announcing GS Foundation Program for UPSC CSE 2025-26 from 19 April. Click Here for more information.
ForumIAS Answer Writing Focus Group (AWFG) for Mains 2024 commencing from 24th June 2024. The Entrance Test for the program will be held on 28th April 2024 at 9 AM. To know more about the program visit: https://forumias.com/blog/awfg2024
SC notice to govt. on petition to outlaw Section 377
Context:
- The Supreme Court has recently asked the government to respond to a plea to strike down the colonial Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalizes homosexuality.
Background:
- December 2013: Supreme Court dismissed the LGBT community as a negligible part of the population while virtually denying them the right of choice and sexual orientation.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra observed the following points:
- ‘Right to choice of sexual orientation’ needs to be declared as part of the fundamental right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution;
- A section of people cannot live in fear of a law which atrophies their right to choice and natural sexual inclinations;
- Societal morality changes with time and the law should change pace with life, adding that the concept of consensual sex may require more protection; and
- Individual autonomy and individual natural inclination cannot be atrophied unless the restrictions are determined as reasonable.
