Path to Decriminalisation of Sodomy law
Author – Pratishtha tripathi, Student of Banas thali Vidya Pith, Jaipur
Best Citation – Pratishtha tripathi, Path to Decriminalisation of Sodomy law, ILE Journal of Equity and Justice, 1 (1) of 2023, Pg. 48-52, ISBN – 978-81-961791-3-7.
ABSTRACT
on September 6th 2018 the supreme court of India stated consensual same sexual conduct is unconstitutional i.e., Section 377 of India’s penal code [1], which is a British colonial rule drafted by Lord Macaulay and enacted in 1860, calling it a ten-year sentence carnal intercourse (against the order of nature) and the Law Commission of India, in its 172nd Report of 2000, concluded that the law should be repealed. Meenakshi Ganguli director of Human Rights Watch stating that it is the human decision and their matter on privacy and no one should discriminate against what they want to do in their private space. This article will lead to forbidding of rule that protected LGBTQ people in India in the perspective of both India’s constitution and international human rights. Although the criticism still exists in modern world but surprisingly, about 123 countries have decriminalised homosexuality. Indian courts have adopted a test of imitative sexual intercourse equating penetrative acts with sexual intercourse which broadens the legal definition of sodomy to include sexual acts other than anal sex, such as oral sex. As it’s inclusive aspect, this paper traverses the unite relationship of history of how the same sex got decriminalised with the foundation of article 14,15,19 and 21 [2], creating the broader shift in the conclusion that the repeal of the sodomy law cannot by itself relieve the plight of sexual minorities, it can be a significant part of the solution.
keywords: carnal – LGBTQ – decriminalised – homosexuality