SC Hearing on Section 377: Justice to Indian LGBT Long Overdue, Says Celina Jaitly

Actress Celina Jaitly says justice to the Indian LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community is long overdue, and that the law must put an end to the legal platform that segregates the community from others.

Celina, an LGBT activist, on Wednesday tweeted: "Justice to Indian LGBT long overdue. Human rights of every individual are above all other rights, the law must put an end to the legal platform that segregates the rights of Indian LGBT from other Indians in the world's largest democracy."

The actress' tweet came a day after the Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled out expanding the scope of the challenge to validity of the Indian Penal Code's Section 377.

A UN equality champion who promotes its Free and Equal campaign, she said the Section 377 "must go".

Dating back to 1860, it criminalises sexual acts "against the order of the nature". The section was partly struck down by the Delhi High Court in July 2009 to decriminalise sex between consenting adults of the same gender. But in 2013, the judgement was overturned by the Supreme Court, which held that amending or repealing Section 377 was the job of Parliament, not the judiciary.

In an earlier interview to IANS, Celina had said: "Whether India accepts it or not, the fact of the matter is that there are millions of LGBT individuals in our country and they deserve the same set of rights and protection by law as every other citizen."

"An LGBT person has multiple struggles in all aspects of life, specifically women who in any case have to face many battles in our society," she added.