Supreme Court of India will take up the curative petition on Section 377 on 2nd February, reports BuzzFeed News. In Dec 2013, a two judge bench of the Apex Court had reversed a Delhi High Court judgement of 2009 that decriminalised same-sex consensual sex. A review petition filed before the court was dismissed. But the court later admitted to hear a curative petition filed by various groups.
Section 377 of the IPC criminalises “unnatural sex against the order of nature” and is often used to harass the LGBT community by police. The 2013 judgement of the Supreme Court, that had referred to the LGBT community as a “miniscule minority” had led to widespread protests across India and the world, with Global Day of Rage being observed in various cities.
Curative petition is the last legal resort left before the LGBT community to get homosexuality decriminalised in the country via the courts. A five judge bench will hear arguments again to decide on the constitutionality of Section 377. This is the third time that the Supreme Court is admitting a curative petition.