India's Supreme Court Decriminalizes Homosexuality

A landmark judgment by India’s highest court has overturned a colonial-era law that criminalizes consensual gay sex, in a hard-fought victory for the LGBTQ community.

The five-judge bench reached a unanimous decision Thursday in the capital New Delhi. Delivering his decision, Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra said, “The LGBTQ community has the same fundamental rights as citizens. The identity of a person is very important and we have to vanquish prejudice, embrace inclusion and ensure equal rights.”

“History owes an apology to members of the community for the delay in ensuring their rights,” Justice Indu Malhotra, another judge in the bench said.

The court verdict is a major milestone for LGBTQ-identifying people across the country, where homosexuality remains a social taboo and gay people face endemic discrimination.

“Now more people will have the strength to come out,” says Tanveen Kaur Randhawa, one of 20 former students of the Indian Institute of Technology who filed one of several petitions in court earlier this year. “When you are treated as a criminal, it is not easy to come out and this step is very important because it ensures that you have the right to be who you are.”

India joins 17 Commonwealth nations that have overturned laws criminalizing homosexuality, a legacy left behind in most of these nations by the former British colonial rulers. Homosexuality still remains illegal in 36 Commonwealth countries, including Singapore, Kenya and Sri Lanka.