Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, laid down the punishment for 'unnatural sexual offences'. The Section provided that anyone who has voluntarily entered into a sexual relation with any man, woman for animal, against the law of nature, shall be punishable. The said provisions, as far as they dealt with consensual relationship between two adults, were in violation of the rights to equality (under Articles 14 and 15 of the Indian Constitution) and the right to privacy (Article 21). The said Section was held unconstitutional by the Delhi High Court in 2009 but it was overruled by the Supreme Court in 2010. Recently, the Supreme Court has unanimously held by a five member bench that sex is natural and the homosexual relationship between two consenting adults is not a crime.
