Day 2 of the #Section377 Constitution Bench hearings also featured some of the most powerful court craft I have had the privilege of witnessing, courtesy @MenakaGuruswamy (Thread)
It wasn’t the fact that she was the first female lawyer to speak in a testosterone packed litigation (and courtroom), though that was crucial. It wasn’t the fact that she made it a point to address the sole female judge on the Bench time and again, though that was significant.
It was rather the sheer force of her arguments that seemed to rip through the tangles of legal discourse and force the Court to confront the human cost of this case.
In 2012 the judges in Koushal would keep asking the lawyers about the existence of LGBT persons. Today, @MenakaGuruswamy acknowledged the presence of the petitioners who stood in the room, while also invoking the names of those who weren’t there. #Section377
These are the individuals the law affects, and in story after story, she told the judges how many lives were going by living under the shadow of this law.
She opened up the space of what it meant to be queer, speaking of the right to love, of the Court’s own mandate in protecting individuals, of times when district judges had protected runaway inter-caste lovers from their families.
She spoke about the law’s specific impact on transgender persons, on how it impeded the promise of full citizenship that NALSA pointed towards. #Section377
In no uncertain terms, she reminded the Court of its duty to not just give a hearing, but to bridge the gap towards emancipation, to fulfil a promise that harks back to the framing of the Constitution. #Section377
At one point, the ASG attempted to interrupt @MenakaGuruswamy, prompting the Chief Justice to snap: “Let her speak!”.
She spoke, and today, we were heard. #Section377
She spoke, and today, we were heard. #Section377
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