India’s top court to reconsider law criminalizing homosexual sex

• The court announced it will review the constitutionality of the law following a five-judge panel to review the 1860 law, reinstated in 2013 after a four-year reprieve.
• Homosexual acts carry a 10-year prison sentence, and though rarely enforced, the law can be used to coerce and intimidate individuals in a country where 75% of the population continues to express disapproval of homosexuality.
• Should the court uphold the law, advocates would have to depend on future reform to come from the country’s largely conservative parliament.

Read more:
“India’s Supreme Court will review law criminalizing gay sex” (Reuters)
“Supreme Court agrees to revisit law criminalising homosexuality” (The Indian Express)
“SC to hear petitions on criminalisation of homosexuality tomorrow” (The Hindustan Times)

(Image Credit: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)