Naz Foundation withdraws curative petition against SC’s 2013 ruling criminalising homosexuality
The move came in light of a Constitution bench verdict in 2018 that unanimously decriminalised Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.
The Naz Foundation on Monday withdrew its curative petition filed against the Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling on Section 377 that criminalised homosexuality, ANI reported.
The non-governmental organisation withdrew the petition in light of a verdict passed by a five-judge Constitution bench last year that unanimously decriminalised homosexual activity between consenting adults.
However, the Supreme Court will take up for hearing in July similar petitions filed by other petitioners, Bar & Bench reported.
Section 377: Naz Foundation withdraws curative petition in light of the Constitution Bench verdict of September 2018 which read down Section 377 of the IPC.
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) February 11, 2019
The 157-year-old Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code criminalised “sex against the order of nature” and made it punishable by 10 years in prison. The judges said provisions of the law that criminalise such activity between consenting adults was unconstitutional. The provision against bestiality, or sexual activity with animals, remains.
The historic verdict had come on a batch of six petitions and interventions filed by Naz Foundation, parents of queer people and Voices Against 377, a collective of human rights groups. These groups had urged the top court to reconsider its judgement from 2013, when it set aside a 2009 order by the Delhi High Court decriminalising homosexuality.