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# India repeals Colonial ban on same-sex relations
- URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/india-repeals-colonial-ban-on-same-sex-relations/
- Published: 2018-09-08T13:54:45.000Z
- Updated: 2018-09-08T13:54:45.000Z
- Description: THE Supreme Court of India made the historic decision to repeal the ban on same-sex relations on September 6. The colonial-era Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code made sexual behaviour “against the order of nature” illegal and punishable by imprisonment and served as a model for similar laws across
- Author: Besi

## Historic judgement as one fifth of the world’s LGBT+ people set free from criminalisation.

![New Delhi, India - Delhi Queer Pride: November 29, 2015](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web-600-10.jpg)

New Delhi, India – Delhi Queer Pride: November 29, 2015

**THE Supreme Court of India** made the historic decision to repeal the ban on same-sex relations on September 6.

The colonial-era Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code made sexual behaviour *“against the order of nature”* illegal and punishable by imprisonment and served as a model for similar laws across the British Colonial Empire.

India decriminalised same-sex relations in July 2009 by the High Court of Delhi after a movement to repeal the article began in the early 1990s. The ruling was overturned by a 2-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India in December 2013, ruling that Section 377 was not unconstitutional.

The new ruling comes after a five judge bench reviewed the case, after a petition was filed by a group of LGBT+ citizens with the claim that the earlier ruling needed to be reconsidered by a larger panel of judges. The petitioners also argued that the article violates one’s right to privacy, a fundamental right that was recognised in a landmark 2017 Supreme Court judgement.

![Peter Tatchell](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web-200.jpg)

Peter Tatchell

**Peter Tatchell, Director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation, said:** *“This historic legal ruling sets free from criminalisation almost one fifth of the world’s LGBT+ people. It is the biggest, most impactful gay law reform in human history. I hope it will inspire and empower similar legal challenges in many of the 70 countries that still outlaw same-sex relations, 35 of which are member states of the Commonwealth.*

*“Ending the ban on homosexuality is just a start. There are still huge challenges to end the stigma, discrimination and hate crime that LGBTs suffer in India.*

*“Indian LGBTs now revert to the legal status of non-criminalisation that existed prior to the British colonisers imposing the homophobic section 377 of the criminal code in the nineteenth century.”*

![Jessica Stern](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web-300.png)

Jessica Stern

**Jessica Stern, Executive Director, OutRight Action International, the global campaign organisation, added:** *“When you work on LGBT+ rights at an international level, your work constantly leads you back to colonialism and the penal codes that were imposed globally as instruments of control and domination.*

*“The sodomy law that became the model everywhere from Uganda to Singapore to the UK itself premiered in India, becoming the confusing and dehumanising standard replicated around the world.*

*Today’s decision to strike down the 377 law once and for all is a triumph. It is the culmination of years of community organising, changing social attitudes, strategic use of the courts, and an LGBT+ movement in India that refused to give up.*

*“The decision decriminalises homosexuality in India and also affirms the rights to privacy and non-discrimination. Today’s historic outcome will reverberate across India and the world.”*

The case was presented by **Arundhati Katju** and **Menaka Guruswamy** and the India Institute of Technology who filed a 716-page petition arguing that LGBT+ Indians have a right to determine their sexuality as a component of their privacy, dignity, and equality.

**Menaka Guruswamy, said:** *“This is a wide-ranging win for LGBT Indians across constitutional rights of equality, dignity, expression and freedom. It is a win for India as a constitutional democracy, and the court with this judgment had told young LGBT Indians that they are not alone. Their court, constitution and country stands with them.”*

**Arundhati Katju, added:** *“This is a historic win. The Supreme Court has affirmed that the Indian Constitution applies with full force to LGBT+ Indians. As a unanimous decision passed by all five judges, this will have wide-ranging repercussions in the years to come.”*