New Delhi, Jan. 28: The Supreme Court will on February 2 conduct an open hearing of a "curative petition" that has sought a re-look at its 2013 judgment upholding the penal code's Section 377 that criminalises homosexuality in India.
The NDA government's stand would be crucial as several religious outfits, including Hindu groups, had supported criminalisation of homosexuality, whereas finance minister Arun Jaitley had recently batted for decriminalisation.
A curative petition is the last resort for a litigant - after a review petition has been dismissed - and is heard mostly in judges' chambers.
In this case, however, the Supreme Court had on April 2, 2014, agreed to conduct an open hearing of the curative petition filed by the NGO Naz Foundation through counsel Chanchal Kumar Ganguli. Nearly two years on, the petition is now coming up for hearing on February 2, informed sources told The Telegraph.
Normally, a bench of five judges, including those who have dealt with the case or a review plea, hear a curative petition. In this case, all the judges who had handled it from the December 2013 original verdict upholding the colonial-era law have since retired.
The petition is now likely to be heard by Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and two senior-most judges, Justices A.R. Dave and J.S. Khehar. The names of the other judges likely to be on the bench are not known.
Legal experts feel that such a totally new combination might infuse a fresh thinking.
Section 377 prohibits unnatural sex, making it a penal offence. But Delhi High Court, on July 2, 2009, had struck down the provision on the ground that it violated an individual's privacy and right to equal treatment before law under Articles 14,15 and 21 of the Constitution.
On December 11, 2013, the apex court had ruled that "unnatural sex against the order of nature" was a criminal offence, which might entail a punishment of 10 years to life in prison.
In its judgment, the court said the Centre was free to delete Section 377, but the government did not take any step.
On January 28, 2014, the apex court dismissed a batch of review petitions that had challenged its judgment re-criminalizing gay sex.
While the Union home ministry has supported retaining Section 377, the health ministry had sought deletion of the provision.
