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On the second day of hearing of the fresh petitions challenging the draconian Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that criminalises gay sex, the government has told the Supreme Court that it will not take a stand on the issue and will leave it to the "wisdom" of the top court of the country.
Times of India reported that additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Government of India, told the court, "Let court decide, leave decision to wisdom of court."
"I state and submit that so far as the constitutional validity Section 377 to the extent it applies to "consensual acts of adults in private" is concerned,the Union of India would leave the said question to the wisdom of this Hon'ble Court",says Centre's affidavit @IndianExpress
— Ananthakrishnan G (@axidentaljourno) July 11, 2018
The petitions to de-criminalise gay sex is being heard by a five-judge Constitution bench.
NDTV reported that CJI Deepak Mishra asked "So you are leaving it to our wisdom whether 377 deals with crime and whether it should be as a crime or not we will deal with it?"
This comes after the Centre told the court that it must only decide on the validity of the law and not other issues "as it could have far reaching consequences for future."
The court said on Tuesday, "The question here is whether section 377 is ultra vires or not. Let us get out of this maze. We cannot now give an advance ruling on questions like inheritance to (same sex) live-in partners, whether they can marry, etc. Those are individual issues we cannot pre-judge now."
