Indian Supreme Court to hear case on colonial-era sodomy law

On Tuesday, Buzzfeed said in an in-depth report that the Supreme Court of India agreed to hear arguments in an open court on whether it will reconsider the decision it had made in December upholding Section 377, or the country's sodomy law.

The latest development would be the last hope of the LGBT rights activists who are pushing to strike down the law following an unfavorable ruling after a litigation process that lasted 12 long years. Despite the many setbacks it had encountered along the way, lawyers representing the advocates received good news last week when a two-judge Supreme Court panel had issued a ruling to acknowledge transgender rights. Buzzfeed said that although the panel explicitly said that the decision has no connection to the litigation on the sodomy law, its ruling on the transgender rights reportedly was a rebuttal to the 377 ruling point by point.

Bangalore-based lawyer Arvind Narrain with the Alternative Law Forum, who has been working on the 377 case, said, "We've got our day in court. This is a bit of hope."

Lawyers for the strikedown of the colonial-era law will have to face several legal hurdles first. Buzzfeed said that in January this year, a separate two-judge panel, one of which issued the original ruling in favor for the Section 377, rejected the lawyers' attempt to approve the review petition. The current motion, or the curative petition, will go through a five-panel judge which includes the judges who rejected the review petition, the viral news website said. The three other judges are the most senior of the judges on the court.

Although the curative process is new, as it has been recently established in 2002, Buzzfeed said it is only made available on cases wherein the court believes the case's original ruling had violated fundamental rights. It is expected that the court will set a date for the rehearing of the case next week.

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Supreme Court of India, Alternative Law Forum

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