Section 377

Section 377 dated back to British colonial-era morality laws from 1860 and was originally used to criminalise a wide range of sexual acts, including consensual acts between adults of the same sex. Over the decades, its use to punish consenting adults came to be seen as a violation of dignity, privacy, and equality. The Supreme Court's 2018 judgment in Navtej Singh Johar read down the section so that it no longer applies to consensual sexual acts between adults, while the parts dealing with non-consensual acts and acts involving animals or minors remained in force. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, which replaced the Indian Penal Code in 2024, dropped this section for consensual adult conduct, though non-consensual acts continue to be addressed through other sexual-offence provisions.

In Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India (2018), a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court unanimously read down Section 377, holding that criminalising consensual sexual acts between adults, including those of the same sex, violated the constitutional rights to equality, privacy, and dignity under Articles 14, 15, 19 and 21. The Court held that the section could still be used against non-consensual acts and acts involving animals or minors, but not against private, consensual conduct between adults.

• Myth: Consensual sex between adults of the same sex is still a crime in India under this section.
  Fact: The Supreme Court in Navtej Singh Johar (2018) read down Section 377 so it no longer applies to consensual acts between adults; it remained usable only for non-consensual acts and acts involving animals or minors, and the section itself has since been dropped from the new criminal code.