India: Supreme Court recriminalises "carnal intercourse against the order of nature"

• Main Author: DAM, Shubhankar
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2014
• Subjects: Colonial legislation; Constitutional rights; Constitutionality; Homosexuality; India; Presumptions; Sexual offences; Asian Studies; Constitutional Law; Courts
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/1332
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The Indian Penal Code 1860 in s.77 makes "carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal" punishable with imprisonment for life. In Suresh Kumar Koushal v NAZ Foundation, reversing a 2009 decision of the Delhi High Court, the Supreme Court concluded that the provision is constitutionally valid. As a result, India now rejoins 76 other jurisdictions in criminalising same-sex behavior. The decision is for the most part poorly written and insufficiently reasoned, and the four strands of arguments, individually and collectively, leave much to be desired.