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CASE COMMENT ON NATIONAL LEGAL SERVICES AUTHORITY V. UNION OF INDIA & OTHERS (AIR 2014 SC 1863): A RAY OF HOPE FOR THE LGBT COMMUNITY

https://doi.org/10.21684/2412-2343-2016-3-2-27-36

Abstract

The lives of human beings are full of complexities, but LGBT face much more trauma compared to other people. What is necessary is to understand the sentiments of the LGBT community and also to grant them common human rights. But the world lowers its eyes and refuses a discussion over the granting of basic human rights to the LGBT community. And it is so sad to see that such discrimination exists even in the 21st century. Indian law, on the whole, only recognizes the paradigm of the binary genders of male and female, based on a person’s sex assigned at birth, which permits a gender system, including the laws relating to marriage, adoption, inheritance, succession and taxation, and welfare legislation. The most pertinent question with respect to the LGBT community is whether LGBT are to be discriminated against by other human beings. Merely being different does not give others the authority to ostracize one from society. In fact, in July 2009 the Delhi High Court ruled that consensual same-sex relations between adults in private could not be criminalized. Then in a recent judgment, the Supreme Court of India expressed its concerns over the mental trauma, emotional agony and pain of the members of the transgender community: all forms of mental suffering of the LGBT community, as well as ignorance and isolation of the community, were brought to an end by the Court’s decision in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India & Others.

About the Author

M.K. Sahu
National University of Study and Research in law
India

LLM (Constitutional and Administrative Law) Student,

Ward No. 11, Shanti Nagar, Palkot Road, Gumla-835207 (Jharkhand)



References

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2. Chatterjee Subhrajit, Problems Faced by LGBT People in the Mainstream Society: Some Recommendations, 1(5) Int’l J. of Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Stud. 317–331 (2014).

3. Encarnación Omar G., Gay Rights: Why Democracy Matters, 25(3) J. of Democracy (2014).

4. Fernandez Bina, A Resource Book on Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Rights in India (India Centre for Human Rights and Law, February 1999).

5. Needham Jayesh, After the Arab Spring: ANew Opportunity for LGBT Human Rights Advocacy? 20(287) Duke J. of Gender L. & Pol’y (2013).

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Review

For citations:


Sahu M. CASE COMMENT ON NATIONAL LEGAL SERVICES AUTHORITY V. UNION OF INDIA & OTHERS (AIR 2014 SC 1863): A RAY OF HOPE FOR THE LGBT COMMUNITY. BRICS Law Journal. 2016;3(2):164-175. https://doi.org/10.21684/2412-2343-2016-3-2-27-36

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ISSN 2409-9058 (Print)
ISSN 2412-2343 (Online)
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