This is to inform everyone on these lists that there has been a significant
development in the S.377 case in the Supreme Court today.
All the final applications for interventions by parties interested in the Delhi
High Court verdict came up before a bench comprising of Justices Singhvi and
Ganguly. These included a few against the Delhi High Court verdict, but also
for the first time, applications from civil society supporting it. These
include:
1) a group of 19 parents of lgbt kids
2) Shyam Benegal, independent filmmaker and member of the Rajya Sabha
3) a group of 16 leading academics
4) a group of 13 leading mental health professionals
The bench allowed them all in, except for one wierd application from Suresh
Kumar Kaushal, the first guy to petition against the verdict. In his petition
(which stands as part of the case) he alleged that allowing homosexuality would
undermine national security because it would lead to soldiers having sex in
remote outposts where there were no women!!!!!!!!!!!! Now he wanted the court
to get the Indian Army involved to give its views on this assertion, but
thankfully the bench threw this out.
Allowing the voices of civil society to get involved in the case is a very
important development. The petitions are strong statements of support for the
Delhi High Court verdict from really respected people. I will also send out the
press releases so people have an idea of who all are involved. Please do inform
any media contacts you have about this development.
The other big piece of news is that the bench wants to hear the case soon. It
seemed at one point that the case would drift for quite a while, but now the
bench has the next date for hearing as April 18th!
Its all happening really fast now, and its going to be a complete circus with
15 parties against us, the parents, academics, mental health professionals and
Shyam Benegal for us, and a whole bunch of top counsel in Delhi lead by no less
than Mr.Fali Nariman, who is probably the seniormost and most respected counsel
in India today, who appeared in case today on behalf of the parents of lgbt
kids.
Let the tamasha begin!
