Law Commission chairman and former Delhi high court chief justice A P Shah, who had delivered the historic judgment on Section 377 of the IPC decriminalizing gay sex, has expressed disappointment at the Supreme Court verdict setting aside his order and recriminalizing same-sex relationships. “My first feeling was deep sadness about the LGBT community… I was disappointed,” Justice Shah said in an interview to a TV channel on Sunday.
Justice Shah said he had thought his judgment would be sustained. “Given the subject matter of the appeal, I thought that our views would prevail,” Justice Shah said, commenting on the SC order.
The government on Friday filed a review petition against the SC verdict on Section 377. The SC verdict had upheld the legality of section 377 of the IPC, which provides for imprisonment with up to a life term.
In another interaction with a newspaper, Justice Shah said the British, who had introduced Section 377 as they feared “their army and daughters would be tainted by Oriental vices”, had repealed it in their own country. Their judicial committee recommended that “for consenting adults, it should not be a crime”.
Justice Shah defended his judgment saying gay sex by consenting adults was not a crime in all of Europe and the US. On the issue of morality, the Law Commission chairman said what was envisaged in the Constitution was not popular morality.
“Probably, public morality is the reflection of the moral normative values of the majority of the population, but constitutional morality derives its contents from the values of the Constitution,” he said.
Justice Shah said he had thought his judgment would be sustained. “Given the subject matter of the appeal, I thought that our views would prevail,” Justice Shah said, commenting on the SC order.
The government on Friday filed a review petition against the SC verdict on Section 377. The SC verdict had upheld the legality of section 377 of the IPC, which provides for imprisonment with up to a life term.
In another interaction with a newspaper, Justice Shah said the British, who had introduced Section 377 as they feared “their army and daughters would be tainted by Oriental vices”, had repealed it in their own country. Their judicial committee recommended that “for consenting adults, it should not be a crime”.
Justice Shah defended his judgment saying gay sex by consenting adults was not a crime in all of Europe and the US. On the issue of morality, the Law Commission chairman said what was envisaged in the Constitution was not popular morality.
“Probably, public morality is the reflection of the moral normative values of the majority of the population, but constitutional morality derives its contents from the values of the Constitution,” he said.
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