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Kartik Aaryan, Kriti Sanon, Nakuul Mehta, Kyrstle D'souza and other stars celebrate Section 377 decriminalization

In a landmark judgement, after months of deliberations, the Supreme Court on Thursday struck down the Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which criminalized homosexuality. A five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra and comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud, Rohinton Fali Nariman, A M Khanwilkar and Indu Malhotra, issued the verdict on a bunch of petitions filed to scrap the law. The bench had earlier reserved its verdict on July 17.

Criminalising gay sex is irrational and indefensible, observed the CJI while delivering the verdict. The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender community has same rights as any other citizen, the CJI added. Respect for each other's rights and others are supreme humanity, observed the bench unanimously while saying that the right to live with dignity is right.

Known as Section 377 of the IPC, the 157-year-old law criminalized certain sexual acts, terming them as 'unnatural offences', punishable by a 10-year jail term.

Recommended Read: SC announces decriminalization of Section 377: Bollywood rejoices with pride for LGBTQ+ community

The law punished "carnal inter­course against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal" and thus had bigger implications for same-sex relationships. The legal battle to scrap the statute has gone on for several years. The Delhi High Court, in 2009, decriminalized homosexuality. But in 2013, the Supreme Court restored the colonial-era law. Three years later, the top court agreed to hear the Section 377 petition once more.

Petitioners before the Supreme Court argued that the controversial law was not in tandem with a 2017 ruling that guaranteed the right to privacy to people. During the hearing in July, the government told the apex court that it would leave to the wisdom of the court to decide the constitutional validity of Section 377. Many celebrities have shared their happiness through Twitter. Check them out here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BnYBbi-gFJu/?hl=en&taken-by=egupta

https://twitter.com/AmrutaOfficial/status/1037598857864138752

https://twitter.com/krystledsouza/status/1037600350901944320

https://twitter.com/ShekharGupta/status/1037588209579040768

https://twitter.com/NakuulMehta/status/1037599701166637056

https://twitter.com/TheAaryanKartik/status/1037601572988051456

https://twitter.com/kritisanon/status/1037603345039536132

https://twitter.com/TheJohnAbraham/status/1037602589209251840

https://twitter.com/aditiraohydari/status/1037606893076860929

https://twitter.com/keithsequeira/status/1037605318296039425

https://twitter.com/alifazal9/status/1037606525425074176

https://twitter.com/Purab_Kohli/status/1037606992355966977

https://twitter.com/Vaaniofficial/status/1037610690431737857

https://twitter.com/Riteishd/status/1037611334546780160

https://twitter.com/rajshriartist/status/1037586825404198912

https://twitter.com/atulkasbekar/status/1037594205013663744

 

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