SC to hear petition against Section 377 next week

The Constitution Bench of Supreme Court will on Tuesday (July 10) hear petitions against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalises homosexuality.

In May, the apex court decided to hear the plea filed by Indian Institute of Technology's LGBT alumni association seeking scrapping of Section 377 of IPC.

Previously, on April 27 this year, Ashok Rao Kavi of Humsafar Trust and Arif Jaffar also filed petitions against Section 377.

Their plea came just six days after hotelier Keshav Suri, filed a plea in this regard in the top court.

In response to Suri's plea, the apex court on April 23 sought the Centre's reply on the plea seeking scrapping of Section 377.

On that note, the business tycoon last month tied the knots with his partner Cyril Feuillebois in Paris.

Earlier in 2009, the Delhi High Court had decriminalised Section 377, but the order was later set aside by a Supreme-Court bench.

Categorised as an unnatural offence, consensual sexual intercourse between persons of same-sex is termed 'against the order of nature' under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and can be punishable by life imprisonment.