Imposing sanction of law on consenting adults encourage discrimination: SC

Imposing legal sanctions on consenting adults involved in a sexual relationship has given the state the authority to perpetuate social stereotypes and encourage discrimination, the Supreme Court said Thursday.

In a historic verdict, a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra struck down part of Section 377 of IPC, which criminalised consensual unnatural sex, saying this penal provision has consigned a group of citizens to "the margins".

"What links LGBT individuals to couples who love across caste and community lines is the fact that both are exercising their right to love at enormous personal risk and in the process disrupting the existing lines of social authority," Justice D Y Chandrachud, who wrote a separate concurring verdict, noted.

He said the British-era law had continued to exist for nearly 68 years after the country came out with a "liberal Constitution" after gaining independence.

"Gays and lesbians, transgenders and bisexuals continue to be denied a truly equal citizenship seven decades after Independence. The law has imposed upon them a morality which is an anachronism," he said, "while section 377 has been used to prosecute non-consensual sexual acts, it has also been used to prosecute consensual sexual acts."