Rediff.com gives you a lowdown on the controversial section:
Delivering a landmark judgment decriminalising gay consensual sex, Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra said: "I am what I am. So take me as I am." Homosexuality is no longer a crime in India, five Supreme Court judges on Thursday ruled in a consensus judgment.
Rediff.com gives you a lowdown on the controversial section:
According to CBSE officials, an expert committee will be formed and a content development agency may be engaged to ensure updated textbooks are ready for the next academic session.
The following is the chronology of events leading to the SC unanimously decriminalising part of controversial Section 377.
The Supreme Court seeks to clear anti-gay assumptions surrounding Section 377, says Sreelatha Menon
Justice M F Saldanha, former judge of the Bombay and Karnataka High Court, says that the Union government has to deal with this issue very carefully and scrapping the section 377 is not as easy as it is made out to be by some gay rights activists.
'The reality is that 377 compromises the freedom and affects many of us adversely,' Navtej Singh Johar tells Manavi Kapur.
Timeline of events relating to proceedings on the issue.
The SC in its judgment said that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a violation of Freedom of Expression. "Sexual orientation of an individual is natural and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a violation of Freedom of Expression, Supreme Court," the court said.
The verdict is likely to be pronounced before October 2 this year as Justice Misra would be retiring as CJI on that day.
'The reopening of the petition shows that there was something that was flawed in (the earlier) Supreme Court judgment, and this means another step forward.'
The Delhi high court on Wednesday said there was an anomaly and misalignment in the erstwhile Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which was decriminalised by the Supreme Court in 2018, and the rape law that protects a husband from prosecution for a non-consensual sexual act, including unnatural sex, with his wife.
Do you think it is time India got rid of a cruel law that treats gays as criminals?
'No country has moved from bigotry to equality fast, and India, with its leisurely, elephant-like pace for the most non-controversial of things, will only take longer.'
"Let the matter be listed for the Chief Justice for appropriate orders," the bench said.
'All judges are conscious of the historical legacy they leave behind. Chief Justice Thakur understands the important question of Constitutional law involved and the change in public mood,' lawyer Anand Grover tells Sunil Sethi.
Observing that an environment has been created in the Indian society over the years that has led to deep-rooted discrimination against the community, a five-judge constitution bench, hearing petitions seeking decriminalisation of 158-year-old colonial law under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, said discrimination against such people has also adversely impacted their mental health.
This motley group of gay rights activists came together to change history.
The transgender community in Tamil Nadu hopes the bill, once it becomes law, will give them a dignified status and make more private sector jobs available to them. Ramasubramanian reports from Chennai
A sessions court in Delhi has upheld the acquittal of a man in a domestic cruelty and marital rape case, citing vague allegations and contradictions in the complainant's statements.
The decision was immediately welcomed by gay rights activists across the country as it reopens the legal debate on homosexuality.
Right to privacy as a fundamental right and granting 'third gender' status to transgenders were heavily relied upon by the SC while giving judgment.
Public-interest litigators Arundhati Katju and Menaka Guruswamy, who spearheaded a historic legal battle for LGBTQ rights in India, along with Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani are among the Indians who have been named by TIME magazine in its prestigious list of the 100 most influential people in the world. The list also includes Indian-American comedian and TV host Hasan Minhaj.
Several United States-based South Asian LGBTQ organisations, as well as community organisations united in solidarity against Section 377 and hosted a candle light vigil on Friday.
Timeline of events relating to proceedings on the issue.
The judgement makes you feel so terrible at every step that the apex court of the country, in which so many people have so much faith, would do something like this, says Anjali Gopalan
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved national highway projects worth approximately 24,249.6 crore across Odisha, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar, aiming to enhance connectivity, reduce travel times, and stimulate economic growth.
Ahead of CJI Dipak Misra's final day as the head of the judiciary of India, here's a look at the key judgments that he was a part of.
An FIR has been registered against five individuals, including the Director of the National Sugar Institute (NSI) in Kanpur, for the alleged illegal felling and uprooting of over 600 trees on the institute's campus without proper permission. The investigation is ongoing, with officials finding evidence of extensive tree cutting over several months.
An FIR has been registered against five individuals, including the Director of the National Sugar Institute (NSI) in Kanpur, for the alleged illegal felling and uprooting of over 600 trees on the institute's campus. The case was filed after a complaint by a Regional Forest Officer, and an inspection revealed extensive unauthorised tree cutting over several months. Police have confirmed an ongoing investigation into the matter.
Kerala is facing increased inflationary pressure due to recent hikes in petrol and diesel prices, according to Chief Minister V D Satheesan. The state's economy is also impacted by the decline in remittances from the Gulf and higher oil prices.
The Centre has asked the Supreme Court to reconsider its judgements decriminalising adultery and same-sex relationships, arguing they were based on a subjective application of 'constitutional morality'.
A new study has found evidence of a thin atmosphere around a small trans-Neptunian object, challenging existing theories about how such objects retain atmospheres.
The extent of doubts over the fairness of this election can be assessed by juxtaposing two figures: Total votes polled by the two principal parties and the number of people who were disallowed from voting this time, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Devdutt Pattanaik, who has simplified the ancient Indian scriptures for millions of readers, highlights what our scriptures have to say about homosexuals and transgenders.
Saying the law doesn't recognise the concept of marital rape, the Delhi high court has quashed an order directing prosecution of a man for performing 'unnatural' sex with his wife.
Sexual intercourse, including unnatural act, by a man with his adult wife, even without her consent, can not be treated as an offence, the Chhattisgarh high court held while acquitting a Jagdalpur resident who was convicted of rape and other charges.
It also suggested that the IPC provision related to adultery should be retained in the Sanhita by making it gender neutral "for the sake of protecting the institution of marriage".
The two sections were not retained in the new bills as the government thought they will go against the judgments of the Supreme Court.
