The Supreme Court will today hear a curative petition of gay rights activists challenging its verdict criminalising homosexuality in the country. The hearing will be done in an open court sitting.<br/><br/>A bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur had earlier agreed to hear the curative petition against the apex court's December, 2013 judgement upholding validity of section 377 of IPC and the January 2014 order, by which it had dismissed a bunch of review petitions. Section 377 of IPC criminalises sexual activities against the order of nature, arguably including the homosexual acts.<br/><br/>The petitioners include the NGO Naz Foundation, working for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community. The plea said, the judgement was reserved on March 27th, 2012 but the verdict was delivered after around 21 months. It said, during this period lots of changes took place including amendment in laws which were not considered by the bench which delivered the judgement.<br/><br/>The gay rights activists had said thousands from the LGBT community became open about their sexual identity during the past four years after the Delhi high court decriminalised gay sex in 2009 and they were now facing the threat of being prosecuted.<br/><br/>Meanwhile, the Madras High Court yesterday observed that homosexuality can be a ground for divorce. The court's observation came while hearing two matrimonial discord cases involving a gay man in one and a lesbian woman in the other.

The Supreme Court will today hear a curative petition of gay rights activists challenging its verdict criminalising homosexuality in the country. The hearing will be done in an open court sitting.<br/><br/>A bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur had earlier agreed to hear the curative petition against the apex court's December, 2013 judgement upholding validity of section 377 of IPC and the January 2014 order, by which it had dismissed a bunch of review petitions. Section 377 of IPC criminalises sexual activities against the order of nature, arguably including the homosexual acts.<br/><br/>The petitioners include the NGO Naz Foundation, working for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community. The plea said, the judgement was reserved on March 27th, 2012 but the verdict was delivered after around 21 months. It said, during this period lots of changes took place including amendment in laws which were not considered by the bench which delivered the judgement.<br/><br/>The gay rights activists had said thousands from the LGBT community became open about their sexual identity during the past four years after the Delhi high court decriminalised gay sex in 2009 and they were now facing the threat of being prosecuted.<br/><br/>Meanwhile, the Madras High Court yesterday observed that homosexuality can be a ground for divorce. The court's observation came while hearing two matrimonial discord cases involving a gay man in one and a lesbian woman in the other.