Transgender individuals challenge Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code

July 22, 2016:  A petition representing transgender individuals from Karnataka challenging Section 377  came up before Justice Sikri and Justice Agarwal today.

The Writ Petition by Dr. Akkai Padmashali and others, is similar to the Writ Petittion (Criminal) No. 76 of 2016 [Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India] in challenging the constitutionality of Section 377, in the sense that the petitioners are directly affected by the Section.

However, it makes the case more persuasive by arguing that the constitutional protections set out by the Supreme Court in National Legal Services Authority Union of India, (2014), protecting the fundamental rights of the Petitioners as transgender persons under Articles 14,15, 19 and 21, are violated by Section 377 of the IPC.

The petitioners have asked that a constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court decide on the constitutionality of Section 377.

Read the petition Akkai_vs_UOI_2016 here. It has been drawn by Jayna Kothari, Varsha Iyengar, and  Rohit Sharma, and filed by  O.P. Bhadani, Advocate for the petitioners.

It has been referred to the CJ.