HC reserves order on Sec 377

The Delhi High Court concluded the marathon hearing on the decriminalisation of Section 377 of the IPC even as the Centre on Wednesday had maintained that “homosexual sex is against the order of nature”. A Division Bench of Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice S Muralidhar reserved the matter for final judgment.Even as the Centre submitted in the court that Section 377 IPC ought to prevail to “protect the human race”, a bunch of NGOs fighting in favour of gay rights argued to amend the provision by decriminalising gay sex among consenting adults in private.
The hearings saw the Government resort to religious literature to explain public morality in India, while the court sought an explanation on a National Aids Control Organisation report pointing out that men who have sex with men fear persecution to such extent that they deny medical care for themselves, thus adding to the fear of contracting HIV/AIDS virus.
“Section 377 IPC throws a stigma on these people. They live in fear. So tell me what compelling interest you have for allowing this law to remain?” the court has asked the Centre.