SC terms curative plea against 2013 verdict on criminalising same sex infructuous

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday held as infructuous curative petitions filed against the December 11, 2013 judgment by a two-judge bench, criminalising homosexuality under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, in view of the 2018 judgment by a Constitution bench.

A five-judge bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices B R Gavai, Bela Trivedi, Pankaj Mithal and Manoj Misra closed the proceedings in the curative petitions.

"We will say the curative petitions have been rendered infructuous by the judgment delivered by this court in Navtej Johar," the bench said.

In the case of Naz Foundation Vs Union of India, the Delhi High Court had in 2009 struck down Section 377 IPC.

However, in 2013, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, in Suresh Kumar Koushal Vs Naz Foundation, reversed the Delhi High Court's judgment and upheld the validity of penal provision. In January 2014, the SC had dismissed a bunch of review petitions.

In 2018, acting on a batch of writ petitions, a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court in Navtej Sigh Johar Vs Union of India held that consensual same sex among adults cannot be criminalised. The court had then struck down the provision to that extent. "Constitutional morality cannot be equated to a majoritarian view. The LGBT community possesses same rights as any citizens of country," the court had then said.

However, the curative petitions filed in 2014 against the 2013 Suresh Koushal judgment remained pending since then.

A curative petition is the last judicial resort available for redressal of grievances in court which is normally decided by judges in-chamber. In rare cases, such petitions are given an open court hearing.