SC says will go by constitutional, not majoritarian, morality on 377

SC SAID SEC 377 HAD AN ADVERSE IMPACT ON THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY THAT FELT INHIBITED WHILE SEEKING HEALTHCARE FACILITIES

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court rejected on Thursday a demand to seek public opinion on Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, a British-era law that criminalises same-sex acts, and said the court will go by constitutional morality, not majoritarian morality.

Hearing petitions seeking decriminalising Section 377, the Constitution bench of the top court said the provision had an adverse impact on the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community that felt inhibited while seeking proper medical and healthcare facilities due to prejudices.

“We do not decide constitutional issues by conducting a referendum. We follow the concept of constitutional morality and not majoritarian morality,” the five-judge bench headed by CJI Dipak Misra told a lawyer favouring retention of Section 377 after he argued that the LGBT community constituted only 5-8% of the country’s population.in 2013, when the Supreme Court revived Section 377, it had termed the LGBTQ community a “minuscule minority”.

The top court also made it clear that the petitions challenging Section 377 will be tested on judicial parameters, despite the Centre leaving it to the top court’s wisdom.

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