As i go through the judgement, just putting up various paras that catch my attention. it is fascinating reading. This is not just law, it is scholarship.
The emphasis on the unique being of an individual is the salt of
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his/her life. Denial of self-expression is inviting death. Irreplaceability
of individuality and identity is grant of respect to self. This realization
is one‘s signature and self-determined design. One defines oneself.
That is the glorious form of individuality.
The overarching ideals of individual autonomy and liberty,
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equality for all sans discrimination of any kind, recognition of identity
with dignity and privacy of human beings constitute the cardinal four
corners of our monumental Constitution forming the concrete
substratum of our fundamental rights that has eluded certain sections
of our society who are still living in the bondage of dogmatic social
norms, prejudiced notions, rigid stereotypes, parochial mindset and
bigoted perceptions.
The natural identity of an individual should be treated to be
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absolutely essential to his being. What nature gives is natural. That
is called nature within. Thus, that part of the personality of a person
has to be respected and not despised or looked down upon. The said
inherent nature and the associated natural impulses in that regard are
to be accepted. Non-acceptance of it by any societal norm or notion
and punishment by law on some obsolete idea and idealism affects
the kernel of the identity of an individual. Destruction of individual
identity would tantamount to crushing of intrinsic dignity that
cumulatively encapsulates the values of privacy, choice, freedom of
speech and other expressions.
the Constitution is a living, integrated organism having a soul and
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consciousness of its own and its pulse beats, emanating from the
spinal cord of its basic framework, can be felt all over its body, even
in the extremities of its limbs.
The fact that only a minuscule fraction of the country’s
population constitutes lesbians and gays or transgenders, and
that in the last 150 years less than 200 persons have been
prosecuted for committing the offence under Section 377, is
neither here nor there. When it is found that privacy interests
come in and the State has no compelling reason to continue an
existing law which penalizes same-sex couples who cause no
harm to others, ….
persons who are homosexual have a fundamental right to live with dignity, which,in the larger framework of the Preamble of India, will assure the cardinal constitutional value of fraternity that has been
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discussed in some of our judgements ….We further declare that such groups are entitled to the protection of equal laws, and are entitled to be treated in society as human beings without any stigma being attached to any of them. We further declare that Section 377 insofar as it criminalises homosexual sex and transgender sex between consenting adults is unconstitutional.
all government officials, including and in particular police officials, and other officers of the Union of India and the States, be given periodic sensitization and awareness training of the plight of such persons in the light of the observations contained in this judgment.
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i will put up the individual judges judgements as separate posts. While they all converge, the scholarship in each is different, as is the thought process. Will possibly read them on different days.