Our way of life is changing faster than we think and so is the definition of everything that we have ever known. Yesterday, the Indian supreme court ruled that the choice of adults to have pre marital sex or to live together with their partners without having being legally married cannot be termed as criminal, rather it is a part of the right that an individual has under the Indian constitution. With this ruling, the court has tried to make an extremely timely point that people need to change their age old point of view on the concept of co-habiting and accept the reality of the day.
While making this point, the court even sited an example of Lord Krishna and Radha who were co-habiting lovers rather than being a married couple. “When two adult people want to live together, what is the offence?” the court said. “Living together is not an offence. Living together is a right to life.”
This view of the Supreme Court is an extremely significant one, because it comes after another landmark judgment announced this year in July, when the Delhi High court overturned a ban on gay sex and had ruled that sex between consenting adults (of same gender) was not a crime. Ordering that the rights of citizens were violated by the 150 year old colonial era law and terming it as illegal, the court declared that section 377 of the Indian Penal Code 1860, in so far as it criminalizes consensual acts of others in private, runs counter to basic human rights guaranteed by articles of the Indian constitution.
I think our courts need to be congratulated on having a modern day view on this sensitive subject, something that even many of the developed countries of the world have not being able to achieve yet. Views like these not only act as milestones towards initiating a thought revolution amongst the members of the society, but also help in steadily breaking down the traditional taboos associated with the concepts of co-habiting or same gender sex.
Congratulations for taking the first step!
While making this point, the court even sited an example of Lord Krishna and Radha who were co-habiting lovers rather than being a married couple. “When two adult people want to live together, what is the offence?” the court said. “Living together is not an offence. Living together is a right to life.”
This view of the Supreme Court is an extremely significant one, because it comes after another landmark judgment announced this year in July, when the Delhi High court overturned a ban on gay sex and had ruled that sex between consenting adults (of same gender) was not a crime. Ordering that the rights of citizens were violated by the 150 year old colonial era law and terming it as illegal, the court declared that section 377 of the Indian Penal Code 1860, in so far as it criminalizes consensual acts of others in private, runs counter to basic human rights guaranteed by articles of the Indian constitution.
I think our courts need to be congratulated on having a modern day view on this sensitive subject, something that even many of the developed countries of the world have not being able to achieve yet. Views like these not only act as milestones towards initiating a thought revolution amongst the members of the society, but also help in steadily breaking down the traditional taboos associated with the concepts of co-habiting or same gender sex.
Congratulations for taking the first step!
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