CJI to decide on plea by LGBT community

R Sedhuraman

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, June 29

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said Chief Justice T.S. Thakur would decide on the gay community's plea for decriminalisation of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.

A Bench comprising Justices S.A. Bobde and Ashok Bhushan referred a PIL by celebrities from the LGBT community to the Chief Justice of India for appropriate orders.

The Bench noted that since a five-member Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court was hearing curative petitions, the right course was to leave the matter to the CJI.

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Arguing for the petitioners, Navtej Singh Johar and others, senior advocate Arvind Data said this was the first time the gay community had approached the judiciary directly.

Earlier, such petitions had been filed by NGOs, not the community itself, he said.

The Bench, however, said it could keep the petition pending till a decision on the curative petitions or refer it to the CJI.

Data accepted the second option.

Delhi High Court had diluted Section 377 by decriminalising homosexual acts among consenting adults in privacy. The ruling had come on PILs. But the Supreme Court set aside the high court judgement and restored the Section. It has also rejected the review petitions on the issue, but has referred the curative petitions, the last remedy available in the Supreme Court, to the Constitution Bench.