Case Comment on National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India & Others (air 2014 sc 1863): a ray of Hope for the LGBT Community

AuthorM.K. Sahu
PositionNational University of Study and Research in law, (Ranchi, India)
Pages164-175
BRICS LAW JOURNAL Volume III (2016) Issue 2
CASES COMMENTS
CaSE CoMMEnT on naTIonaL LEGaL SERVICES
auTHoRIT Y V. unIon oF InDIa & oTHER S (aIR 2014 SC 1863):
a RaY oF HoPE FoR THE LGBT CoMMunITY
MANJEET KUMAR SAHU,
National University of Study and Research in law, (Ranchi, India)
DOI: 10.21684/2412-2343-2016-3-2-164-175
The lives of human beings are full of complexities, but LGBT face much more trauma
compared to other people. What is necessary is to understand the sentiments of the LGBT
community and also to grant them common human rights. But the world lowers its eyes
and refuses a discussion over the granting of basic human rights to the LGBT community.
And it is so sad to see that such discrimination exists even in the 21st century. Indian law,
on the whole, only recognizes the paradigm of the binary genders of male and female,
based on a person’s sex assigned at birth, which permits a gender system, including the
laws relating to marriage, adoption, inheritance, succession and taxation, and welfare
legislation. The most pertinent question with respect to the LGBT community is whether
LGBT are to be discriminated against by other human beings. Merely being dierent does
not give others the authority to ostracize one from society. In fact, in July 2009 the Delhi
High Court ruled that consensual same-sex relations between adults in private could
not be criminalized. Then in a recent judgment, the Supreme Court of India expressed
its concerns over the mental trauma, emotional agony and pain of the members of the
transgender community: all forms of mental suering of the LGBT community, as well
as ignorance and isolation of the community, were brought to an end by the Court’s
decision in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India & Others.1
Keywords: LGBT; human rights; identity; discrimination; judgment.
1 Writ Petition (Civil) No. 400 of 2012, Judgment dated 15 April 2014.

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