Section 377 of IPC: Decriminalising homosexuality, a wrong is righted

In the judgment that revoked provision of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that criminalised consensual same-sex relationships in September this year, Justice Indu Malhotra wrote: “Members of the LGBT community and their family members are owed an apology from society for being denied equal rights over the years.”
 
 The road to the sexual rights of the LGBTQ community being recognised in this country has been a bumpy one. The Delhi High Court (HC) had decriminalised homosexuality in 2009, saying that the colonial era law was incompatible with Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution.
 
However, in 2013, the Supreme Court had overturned the HC, finding it “legally unsustainable”. Other challenges, however, remain.