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Social Justice

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September 07, 2018

Moral indignation, howsoever strong, is not a valid basis for overriding individuals’ fundamental rights of dignity and privacy. Discuss in the light of the apex court judgment decriminalising section 377. (200 words)

Refer – The Hindu

Enrich the answers from other sources, if the question demands.

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IAS Parliament 6 years

KEY POINTS­

·         Section 377 criminalises sexual activities “against the order of nature”, including homosexual activities.

·         It typecasts LGBTQ individuals as sex-offenders and categorises their consensual conduct on par with sexual offences like rape and child molestation.

Social Morality

·         Section 377 is based on deep-rooted gender stereotypes ingrained in the society.

·         It speaks not just about non-procreative sex but also about forms of intimacy that the prevailing social order finds ‘disturbing’.

·         This tendency arises from the limits imposed on individuals by social structures such as gender, caste, class, religion and community.

·         These perceptions and attitudes prescribe a code of life to which the majority adhere to.

·         It has thus received a social acclaim and has eventually become the social order and social morality which are justifiable within the existing social context.

·         However there are concerns associated with it:

·         It is a majoritarian impulse to subjugate a sexual minority to live in silence.

·         It has led to stigmatisation and condemnation of LGBTQ persons in society, who are equal individuals.

Individual rights

·         Homosexuals, as individuals, have a fundamental right to live with dignity and possess full range of constitutional rights.

·         These include sexual orientation, partner choice, equal citizenship and equal protection of laws.

·         Sexual orientation is biological and innate as an individual has no control over who they get attracted to.

·         Certainly, the State cannot decide the boundaries between what is permissible and what is not.

·         Any repression of this by the state will be a violation of free expression.

·         Given these, the judgment underlines the fact that societal morality cannot override constitutional morality and fundamental rights of an individual.

Tapasvi 6 years

Kindly review

IAS Parliament 6 years

Points are good. Use the links just as a reference and try to improvise answers on your own. Keep writing.

Sahitya 6 years

Please review 

IAS Parliament 6 years

Try writing why some acts that were criminalized by Sec.377 were under moral indignation and justify the statement in the question by writing how Sec.377 impacts individual rights. Keep writing.

Manav 6 years

Please review. Thanks.

IAS Parliament 6 years

Try writing why some acts that were criminalized by Sec.377 were under moral indignation and justify the statement in the question by writing how Sec.377 impacts individual rights. Keep writing.

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