The Chief Justice of India will decide if the new petition against Section 377 will be heard with the pending curative petition, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday.
A group of celebrities belonging to and in support of the LGBTQ community had decided on Tuesday to move the apex court with a fresh PIL, challenging the controversial section 377, which criminalises homosexuality.
“Section 377 criminalises the very existence of LGBT people by criminalising their sexuality, an attribute which is as inherent and intrinsic to a person as their race or gender,” argues the petition.
The apex court had agreed in February this year to re-examine its verdict, which in December 2013 quashed a Delhi High Court ruling which had decriminalized consensual homosexual acts.
Section 377 deems same sex intercourse as “unnatural sex” and punishable by law. Further, it also has implications for heterosexual couples as consensual oral and anal sex are also deemed criminal under this law.
While the Supreme Court upheld the contentious section, it left the final contention to the Parliament. However, most political parties and religious groups are against relaxing the colonial law.