New Delhi, Aug 12 The Delhi High Court on Wednesday agreed to hear, on October 7, a public interest litigation to declare sexual offences, like rape, under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) to be gender neutral.
A bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia said the PIL would be taken up along with similar pending petitions.
During the hearing, the bench remarked that the creation of an offence was part of the "legislative policy", and a court has no power in such matters.
"We are not sitting here to read down a provision and decide what will amount to an offence. Call ultimately has to be taken by the legislation," it said.
"These are legislative policy matters. The offence has to be described. It is the legislation (which describes an offence). What can the court do about it?," added the bench.
The PIL by lawyer Shubhi Srivastava and others said that, at present, there is no provision in BNS to deal with the non-consensual, non-vaginal sexual acts committed upon men, transgenders or animals and that the law only envisaged that sexual offences can only be committed by a man against a woman.
In the absence of a provision like section 377 IPC, there is no "equality before law and the equal protection of law" for men and transgenders as well as animals, who can be victims of sexual offences like women.
A separate PIL by Gantavya Gulati seeking provisions in the criminal law for non-consensual unnatural sex – akin to section 377 of the now-repealed IPC- is pending in the high court.
Gulati has claimed that said legal protection was required for members of the LGBTQ community in case of non-consensual unnatural sex.
