Address lack of punishment in Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for ‘forced unnatural sex’: Delhi HC to Centre
A plea in the court contended that there is no legal recourse if a man is sexually assaulted by another man as no FIR can be filed under the new criminal laws.
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The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the Union government to address a vacuum in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita concerning the punishments for “forced unnatural sex and sodomy”, reported The Hindu.
This came in response to a petition challenging the exclusion of penal provisions for such offences from the new criminal law, which replaced the Indian Penal Code on July 1.
The petitioner contended that there is no legal recourse if a man is sexually assaulted by another man as no first information report can be filed under the new law.
The move had created an “exigent legal lacuna”, the plea argued.
Under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, “carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman, or animal” was punishable with prison time between 10 years to life.
This was the same section that criminalised consensual homosexuality in India. After the Supreme Court in 2018 decriminalised homosexuality, Section 377 continued to outlaw non-consensual “unnatural” sexual activity, for example rape by a person of the same sex.
It carried a punishment of life imprisonment or a 10-year sentence for engaging in “carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman, or animal”.
The plea in the Delhi High Court contended that the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita does not contain any such provision. As a...
