{"id":27480,"date":"2018-10-23T14:19:40","date_gmt":"2018-10-23T08:49:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=27480"},"modified":"2018-10-23T14:19:40","modified_gmt":"2018-10-23T08:49:40","slug":"no-right-of-way-for-the-majority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/no-right-of-way-for-the-majority\/","title":{"rendered":"No right of way for the majority"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/opinion\/columns\/supreme-court-section-377-verdict-homosexuality-legal-5355319\/\">No right of way for the majority<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Article<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>\u00a0Faizan Mustafa, an eminent jurist, writes on how by rejecting homogenization of culture, Supreme Court\u2018s verdict on Section 377 has upheld the right of religious minorities.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong><u>Important Analysis<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>2. Every major religion has disapproved of homosexuality:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Judaism and Christianity consider homosexuality a sin and Judeo-Christian morality \u00a0\u00a0had a major impact on the colonial state\u2019s law.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Islam too considers homosexuality a sin.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Ancient Indian culture and mythology were more liberal but it is considered a taboo in Hindu society too<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>3. Supreme Court has merely decriminalized homosexuality but it has <strong>not altered the civil law<\/strong> on it. So all the civil laws that allow for discrimination of homosexuality still remain intact.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Divorce<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0As per Muslim Marriage Act, 1939 a Muslim wife can still seek divorce from her \u00a0\u00a0husband if he indulges in homosexuality.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Under section 13 of Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 sodomy is still a ground for divorce.<\/li>\n<li>Indian Divorce (Amendment) Act, 2001 makes sodomy as a ground for divorce under Christian law.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Adoption<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0Even now homosexual couples cannot adopt a child.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Marriage<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Same-sex marriages have not yet been legalized.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Inheritance<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Many parents have disinherited their homosexual children.<\/li>\n<li>Those children can still not lay claim to their inheritance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>4. Observations of SC Judges on Section 377<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0The law criminalizes behavior that does not conform to the heterosexual expectation of the society.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Self determination lies at the core of the concept of identity.<\/li>\n<li>CJI said that attitude and mentality needs to change and we must respect the individual for \u201cwho they are\u201d.<\/li>\n<li>The judges have unanimously held that <strong>freedom of choice<\/strong> cannot be subjected to <strong>majoritarian perceptions.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>While striking down Section 377 the court accepted the<strong> \u2018harm theory\u2019<\/strong>. The court ruled that anything that is \u2018neither harmful nor contagious to society\u2019 cannot be criminalized<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0 5. Probable Impact of these observations<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Ban and sale and consumption of beef<\/strong>: \u00a0Beef consumption cannot be prohibited now just on the ground that majority in India revere cow.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Anti conversion law:<\/strong> \u00a0Changing religion in India is a private matter of the individual and the state might not have a say on it.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Triple Talaq Bill<\/strong>: SC in <strong>Shayra Bano (2017) judgment<\/strong> held that Triple Divorce does not \u2018dissolve a marriage or causes harm\u2019.<\/li>\n<li>Since this bill criminalizes the act of instant triple talaq and \u00a0prescribes a jail term of 3 years, it might not stand the scrutiny of law as it violates the \u2018harm theory\u2019<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Conclusion<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>6. Any court judgment or laws cannot remove social prejudices on their own; however the verdict will certainly help in removing the burden on sexual minorities.<\/p>\n<p>7. It will usher a <strong>\u2018Choice jurisprudence\u2019<\/strong> in India and religious minorities are well within their rights to assert their choices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No right of way for the majority Article \u00a0Faizan Mustafa, an eminent jurist, writes on how by rejecting homogenization of culture, Supreme Court\u2018s verdict on Section 377 has upheld the right of religious minorities. Important Analysis 2. Every major religion has disapproved of homosexuality: Judaism and Christianity consider homosexuality a sin and Judeo-Christian morality \u00a0\u00a0had&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/no-right-of-way-for-the-majority\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">No right of way for the majority<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704810540},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27480\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}