The Supreme Court gave a landmark verdict on September 6, 2018. The verdict given by the court not only shocked the centuries-old social shackles but also gave freedom to love to a large section. In fact, the court legalized homosexual relations between the two adults. With this, the provision of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which has been in existence since the time of the British, was removed under which two people of the same gender were not allowed to form an association. What is this stream and how the war was waged against it?
*Section 377 is the contribution of British
Homosexuality was declared a crime in the year 1861 during the British rule under Section 377 of the IPC. It was termed as unnatural offense and it was said that whoever would make a physical relationship with a man, woman or animal against the laws of nature on their own will be punished with life imprisonment. For decades it was considered a crime and because of this, the gay society was strangled by its feelings.
Advertisement
Interestingly, in England, lesbian (between two women) relationships were never considered illegal and homosexual relations between men had been considered valid since 1967 with some conditions, while 70 years after India gained independence from England. Later, I got freedom from this stream.
There was resistance to this, but the first attempt was made by law in 2001 to remove it from the road. The Naz Foundation and the AIDS anti-discrimination movement challenged the Colonial Act in the Delhi High Court. However, the court rejected these petitions and the fight to regain the right to the legitimacy of the relationship became longer.
*When the court admitted that the constitution is violated, section 377
Advertisement
The first breakthrough came when the Delhi High Court in 2009 validated the consensual relationship between two adults of the same gender. The Court considered the provision of Section 377 to be a violation of Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution. Let us tell you that Article 14 gives the person the right to equality before the law, Article 15 prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth and Article 21 gives the right to personal freedom and protection of life.
*Then SC gave a shock
The Delhi High Court’s decision realized independence for a few years, but in the year 2013, the Supreme Court rejected the court’s decision, saying it could not be legally protected. The Naz Foundation filed a reconsideration petition in the court but was also dismissed by the court.
*Transgenders got a new identity
By now, the society, which had intended to establish its identity in the society and regain its rights, had started going one step ahead. In 2014, the Supreme Court gave third gender status to transgenders and included them among other backward castes. In 2016, LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) activists once again claimed in the Supreme Court that Section 377 provides for freedom, life, privacy, dignity, and equality with their sexuality, sexual annotations, sexual partners. The fundamental rights are given under Part-III of the Constitution are also being violated.
Advertisement
*An important part of the right to privacy
The court, in a judgment in August 2017, termed the right to privacy as a fundamental right and, at the same time, considered sexual orientation as an important part of privacy. With this, the constitutional bench of five judges of the Supreme Court began hearing the petitions filed against Section 377 in July 2018 and moved towards a decision that was about to change history.
*And this is how freedom was gained
In the same year, ie on 6 September 2018, the court legalized homosexual relations under Section 377, saying that sexual orientation is natural and people have no control over it. However, the Court has kept this provision in force on minors, animals and relationships created without consent. While giving the verdict, Justice Indu Malhotra even said that the society should apologize to LGBTQ and their families for depriving them of equal rights for so many years. With this, the Indian constitution gave the right to raise heads in the society by cutting off age-old shackles …
India is the largest democracy in the world with a population of 1.3 billion people. Democracy is a rule of people but the judiciary system of the world’s largest democracy has failed to serve justice to rape victims in our country. Can we really call this democracy when millions of people are lighting candles, protesting for justice and it is not served to them despite having all the proof?
The Indian Judiciary has been lagging in serving justice to the oppressed. Years ago Nirbhaya rape case was ruling over news channels and newspapers, the story of how brutally nirbhaya was raped and killed is heinous. We were ashamed to not protect our daughter from those monsters but even after the pleas from every Indian asking to hang the rapists, justice was prolonged for years. Nirbhaya died in 2012 and after 8 years of continuous struggle on 20 march 2020, the rapists were hanged to death. The case that shook the entire country took 8 years for the Indian judiciary to conclude despite having all the evidence. What do we call India, a rule of People?
Nirbhaya is not the only victim but there are thousands of others who have not received justice yet. It’s no secret that women in India are not safe. Rape is the fourth most common crime in our country with 88 cases daily on average according to 2019 reports of NCRB. The reason behind that is rapists do not fear the punishment, They believe they can do what they wish and they will manage to find a way out of the police case, which in many cases they do get out without punishments.
Advertisement
Rape is forcing yourself on someone sexually, it does not matter who the victim is. It can be a male or female, married or single. Rape is rape but the Indian judiciary does not believe the same as in India martial rape is not illegal. Once the Chhattisgarh high court said, “ Since the complainant is the legally wedded wife of the accused, any sexual act will not be considered as raped even if it was by force or against her will.”
Madhya Pradesh High Court once served justice to a victim by asking her to tie Rakhi to a molester. Bombay High Court says “groped a child without removing her clothes” it cannot be considered as a sexual assault as there was no skin-to-skin contact. Whereas Karnataka high court granted bail to the accused of rape, criminal intimidation, and cheating by saying “ It is unbecoming of Indian women” to go to sleep after she is ravished.
This is the reason why many women do not file a complaint and many times Indians take the matter into their hands. Such absurd statements degrade the value of the justice system in India. We should stop calling India “ world’s Largest democracy” when the rulers do not get justice themselves.
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkPrivacy policy