India's Supreme Court is due to deliver a landmark verdict today when it will decide if gay sex should remain a criminal offence in the country.
The ruling re‑examines a 2013 judgement that upheld a colonial‑era law, known as section 377, under which gay sex is categorised as an "unnatural offence".
There has been a very vocal campaign to decriminalise homosexuality in India.
Many activists are expecting the court to overrule its previous judgement.
They believe the court strongly indicated its stance on the matter, in a landmark judgement it made on the right to privacy in August last year.
It said then that "discrimination against an individual on the basis of sexual orientation is deeply offensive to the dignity and self‑worth of the individual".
In 2016, when the court agreed to hear the section 377 petition once more, three senior judges said they felt the issue was a "matter of constitutional importance".
[Source: BBC]
