Wishesh Magazine August-2019 Wishesh Magazine August-2019 | Page 59

In an interview to CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on 18 July, Supreme Court lawyers, Menaka Gurswamy and Arundhati Katju opened up as being a couple. Menaka Guruswamy and Arundhati Katju had spearheaded the legal challenge to strike down Section 377 of IPC. The duo highlighted those who suffered under the law by enlisting more than two dozen gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people as co-petitioners. They contested that people risked arrest for publicly identifying themselves as part of the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) community. The host Zakaria asked if the case was much more personal to them as the two were not just partners in court but also a couple. In response, both Guruswamy and Katju agreed and said “Sure. That’s right”. “The loss in 2013 was a loss as lawyers, a loss as citizens. It was a personal loss,” said Guruswamy, referring to the December 2013 judgment of the SC which restored Section 377 IPC to the book by overturning the 2009 verdict of Delhi High Court striking down the colonial provision. “It is not nice to be a ‘criminal’ who has to go back to court as a lawyer to argue other cases,” she added. “We had a court where we practiced as lawyers ... and this court had just told us that gay people were second class citizens”, said Katju, who added that it was very difficult. Guruswamy and Katju had AUGUST 2019 | WWW.WISHESH.NET