In Brief
The Supreme Court's Constitution Bench decriminalized consensual sexual acts between adults of the same sex, striking down Section 377 IPC insofar as it applies to such conduct. The judgment overruled the earlier decision in Suresh Kumar Koushal, finding that sexual orientation is intrinsic to privacy, dignity, and equality under Articles 14, 15, 19, and 21 of the Constitution. The Court rejected arguments based on social morality, emphasizing constitutional morality instead, and recognized that criminalizing consensual adult same-sex relations violates fundamental rights regardless of whether such persons form a minuscule fraction of the population.
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