Supreme Court reserves judgment in Naz Foundation

Justices G.S. Singhvi and S.J. Mukhopadhaya of the Supreme Court today reserved their judgment on the batch of petitions filed against the de-criminlisation of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. The Supreme Court had been hearing arguments on this controversial topic since the past six weeks or so. In the course of arguments, the Supreme Court had come down heavily on the ambiguous stand of the Government in the entire debate.

Justices G.S. Singhvi and S.J. Mukhopadhaya of the Supreme Court today reserved their judgment on the batch of petitions filed against the de-criminlisation of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. The Supreme Court had been hearing arguments on this controversial topic since the past six weeks or so. In the course of arguments, the Supreme Court had come down heavily on the ambiguous stand of the Government in the entire debate.

The batch of 15 petitions, some of which had been filed by various religious groups, been filed against the Delhi High Court's decision in Naz Foundation v Government of NCT of Delhi.

As reported earlier by Bar & Bench, the Supreme Court began hearing this matter on February 15, 2012 and had been vocal about its criticims of the Government's stand. The Government, on its part, eventually clarified that it was not against the decision of the High Court and went on to say that the criminalisation of gay sex was a consequence of the British Raj.

Given the polarising effect of the Delhi High Court judgment (it was portrayed as both "highly progressive" as well as "completely against Indian culture"), it will be interesting to see how the Supreme Court decides the matter. Needless to say, the judgment may well prove to be an extremely important step in the gradual evolution of Indian society.