The government on Friday moved the Supreme Court seeking review of its verdict reviving Section 377 of IPC making gay sex an offence punishable with life term, saying ‘recriminalisation’ of sexual intercourse between same sex of consenting adults has put the LGBT persons at risk of prosecution and harassment.
The Centre said the review petition has been filed to ‘avoid grave miscarriage of justice to thousands of LGBT (Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgenders) persons’ who have been aggrieved by the apex court’s December 11 judgement, contending it is ‘unsustainable’ as it ‘suffers from errors apparent on the face of the record’.
The Centre’s petition settled by Attorney General GE Vahavati sought that oral arguments be heard in an open court before disposing of its review petition. The review petitions are generally decided in chamber hearing.