Photos: A brief history of LGBTQ activism in India as SC scraps Section 377
Updated On Sep 07, 2018 10:09 AM IST
The Supreme Court on Thursday said gay sex among consenting adults is not an offence after hearing a batch of petitions challenging the Constitutional validity of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that criminalises homosexuality. A five judge constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, gave the verdict, in a big win for the LGBTQ community. The verdict assumes significance as in the earlier round of litigation in 2013 the Supreme Court had reversed the Delhi high court ruling decriminalising homosexuality or same sex relationship,
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A participant in the 2017 Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk, held from Deshapriya Park to Park Circus on December 10, 2017. India saw its first pride march on July 02 1999, in Kolkata, West Bengal. A small affair, the event saw participants from other cities including Mumbai and Bangalore. Kolkata was chosen as the venue keeping in mind its history of association with political and human rights movements. (Samir Jana / HT Archive)
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Among the earliest moves challenging Section 377 was in 1994, as a writ petition filed by the Aids Bhedbhav Virodhi Andolan (ABVA), an NGO demanding condoms be made available to inmates of Tihar Jail in New Delhi. Kiran Bedi, then the superintendent of Tihar Jail, had refused to allow health workers to distribute condoms to male inmates. (Girish Srivastava / HT Archive)
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Shiv Sena activists vandalise posters of Deepa Mehta’s film ‘Fire’ during a demonstration in protest of its screening in New Delhi. The repression of same-sex love was highlighted by vehement protests against the film starring Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das in 1998. It also sparked widespread public discourse on homosexuality and freedom of speech. (PTI)
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People participate in the Delhi’s first Queer Pride March in 2008. While ABVA’s petiton was dismissed in 2001, Naz Foundation filed the first major case against Section 377 in December 2001. The case was dismissed by the Delhi High Court in 2004. (Jasjeet Plaha / HT Archive)
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Participants march during ‘Queer Azadi Mumbai 2008’ a parade for LGBT rights, in Mumbai, 2008. As momentum against the British era law grew across the country, the Supreme Court ordered the Delhi court to hear the case again. As a result, on July 2, 2009 the Delhi High Court decriminalised Section 377, ruling that consenting intercourse between two adults was not illegal. (Arko Datta / REUTERS File)
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LGBT activists protest against Supreme Court's judgement on Section 377 at Jantar Mantar, in New Delhi on December 15, 2013. The 2009 judgement was challenged within a week in the Supreme Court, with the apex judicial body in upholding the in 2013. It left to the Parliament to “consider the desirability and propriety of deleting Section 377 IPC from the statute book or amend the same.” (Mohd Zakir / HT Archive)
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The Supreme Court’s overturning of the lower court verdict was criticized around the world and in India, marked by a ‘Global Day of Rage’ on December 15, 2013. Review petitions against the ruling by Naz Foundation, the Union government, and others the following year were quashed, and the court in 2016 referred a curative plea to a five-judge Bench. (Raj K Raj / HT Archive)
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