On Friday, fresh petitions were filed in the Supreme Court against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which tends to criminalises homosexuality. The applicants, who moved to the apex court are Ashok Rao Kavi, Humsafar Trust and Arif Jaffar. Their petition comes just six days after hotelier Keshav Suri, who also filed a plea in this regard to the top court.

They all appealed for the hearing from the apex court. On which Supreme Court has agreed to hear it on Tuesday that is on May 1. By acknowledging Suri's plea, the apex court on April 23 asked the Centre's reply on the plea seeking scrapping of Section 377.

Prior to the case, in 2009, the Delhi High Court had decriminalised Section 377, yet the request was later put aside by a Supreme-Court bench. Classified as an unnatural offense, consensual sex between two people of the same sex is named 'against the request of nature' under Section 377 of the IPC, and can be punishable by life detainment. That judgment was overturned by the Supreme Court of India on 11 December 2013 with the Court holding that changing or repealing Section 377 should be a matter left to Parliament, not the judiciary.