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| India to review ruling on law criminalising homosexuality | India to review ruling on law criminalising homosexuality |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| India’s supreme court has agreed to re-examine a previous judgment that upheld a law criminalising homosexuality, offering hope to gay rights organisations that have been holding vigils and demonstrations in Delhi. | India’s supreme court has agreed to re-examine a previous judgment that upheld a law criminalising homosexuality, offering hope to gay rights organisations that have been holding vigils and demonstrations in Delhi. |
| A panel of three judges said the ruling in 2013 would be revisited by a larger bench of judges. | A panel of three judges said the ruling in 2013 would be revisited by a larger bench of judges. |
| “It is definitely a step forward,” lawyer Anand Grover said, as activistsoutside the courtroom cheered. | |
| The 2013 judgment reinstated colonial-era legislation that in effect outlawed gay sex and stunned many in India, overturning decades of slow progress and prompting protests. | The 2013 judgment reinstated colonial-era legislation that in effect outlawed gay sex and stunned many in India, overturning decades of slow progress and prompting protests. |
| The referral to a large bench of judges is the latest chapter in a long-running legal battle between India’s social and religious conservatives and the gay community over the law passed by the British in the 1860s. | The referral to a large bench of judges is the latest chapter in a long-running legal battle between India’s social and religious conservatives and the gay community over the law passed by the British in the 1860s. |
| In 2009, the Delhi high court effectively legalised gay sex in a landmark ruling that said the ban infringed on the fundamental rights of Indian people. That ruling emboldened activists, who started to campaign publicly against widespread discrimination and violence. | |
| But the supreme court reinstated the ban in 2013, saying responsibility for changing the law rested with lawmakers rather than the courts. | |
| Gay people and campaigners lodged a last-ditch curative petition – or appeal – to the supreme court to have the judgment reviewed and overturned. | Gay people and campaigners lodged a last-ditch curative petition – or appeal – to the supreme court to have the judgment reviewed and overturned. |
| Prosecutions for gay sex are rare, but activists say corrupt police use the reimposed law to harass and threaten gay people. | Prosecutions for gay sex are rare, but activists say corrupt police use the reimposed law to harass and threaten gay people. |
| Gay sex has long been a taboo subject in conservative India, where homophobic tendencies abound. A lawmaker’s attempt to introduce a private member’s bill into parliament to decriminalise gay sex failed in December. | Gay sex has long been a taboo subject in conservative India, where homophobic tendencies abound. A lawmaker’s attempt to introduce a private member’s bill into parliament to decriminalise gay sex failed in December. |