Indian Supreme Court Endangers Human Rights -- But Public's Outrage Holds Promise for Different Future

The arc of the moral and legal universe bent away from justice early Wednesday when the Supreme Court of India upheld India's colonial-era law that criminalizes sexual relations between same-sex partners. The decision, in Suresh Kumar Koushal v. Naz Foundation, reverses a 2009 Delhi High Court ruling that declared the law unconstitutional.

The law, known as Section 377, demands imprisonment for anyone who "voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature." Although the law itself does not precisely define all the covered acts, it has been used -- repeatedly and damagingly -- against members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities in India.

In finding that the Indian Constitution does not protect the right of consenting adults to engage in sexual intimacy, the two-judge panel cut directly against the overwhelming trend in courts around the world to reject these kinds of laws as violating basic individual rights to privacy and equality. Although there was some cause for concern even before the decision was handed down because one of the two justices is well known to be conservative, it was hard to imagine, even Tuesday, that such a retrograde ruling could take effect in the second most populous nation in the world.

(2013-12-14/huffingtonpost)