Navtej Singh Johar & Ors. v. Union of India (2018) – Case Digest

On 6th September 2018, the Supreme Court of India held that section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalised “carnal intercourse against the order of nature”, was unconstitutional to the extent that it criminalised consensual same-sex intimacy. In particular, it held that the provision violated Article 14 (equality before the law), Article 15 (prohibition of discrimination), Article 19 (freedom of expression), and Article 21 (protection of life and personal liberty - encompassing privacy, dignity and health). In doing so, the Court overruled as “constitutionally impermissible” and “fallacious” the Supreme Court’s earlier approach in Suresh Koushal v. Naz Foundation, in which it had in effect re-criminalised same-sex intimacy.