Meet Navtej Johar, the man who fought to get Section 377 scrapped

The legal team for the five petitioners was led by Menaka Guruswamy, Saurabh Kirpal, Arundhati Katju, Neeha Nagpal and Pritha Srikumar

What the British were thinking when they introduced Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code might never truly be known. They probably did not expect this law to outlast their rule in India by over 70 years.

The Victorian-era law, which was written in 1860 and which criminalises “unnatural” sexual acts, continued to stand strong despite several legal attempts to strike it down. But at last, it has changed.

Navtej Singh Johar, a Sangeet Natak Akademi award-winning Bharatanatyam dancer and yoga teacher, petitioned the Supreme Court with four other private citizens to decriminalise homosexuality and protect the rights of the LGBTQ community