SC hearing on Article 377 postponed from 14th September to 29th

I really wish the media would take the trouble to keep us posted of important court cases when they’re scheduled for a hearing. We were all waiting for the SC to arbitrate Article 377 on the 14th of September 2009 and when the date arrives, no report in the media to keep us informed of what happened. Luckily, my Google Calendar is set up to notify me a day before the date approaches, and so when I found there was no mention of it, I decided to dig the records for myself.

Apparently, the case has been postponed till the 29th of September with no explanation given. Must have been some legal hold up. I wish there was some way to find out. You can see in the screenshot below that the case has been scheduled till the end of the month. (Click on it to see it in detail).

Finding it wasn’t very easy though. There are a whole bunch of petitions relating to this issue with everyone challenging the judgment including the “Apostolic Churches Alliance” the the “Delhi Commission for the Protection of Child Rights.” See the screenshot below to see who all have taken an interest.

The one we’re interested in (I think) is the fourth one with Case No. DC 15436/2009. Suresh Kumar Kaushal or SK Kaushal was the astrologer who somehow thinks that the Defence of the Nation is threatened by homosexuality!

I’ll be covering this court case whenever it’s scheduled whether the newspapers report it or not. Stay updated on the feed for RSS updates. For those who want to see for themselves, visit http://courtnic.nic.in/courtnicsc.asp, click on “Title” on the left, enter “Naz Foundation” into the text box of the new form, and select “Respondent” from the drop down box along with the appropriate year. I had to hit the “Enter” key from the textbox for the form to submit in Firefox. I don’t know if it’ll work in IE.

I hope this case doesn’t keep getting postponed one date after the other – it’ll be a real drag if it does. The issue that is pending I think is the official statement from the government as to what their stand is. We have to wait for Chidambaram to join his voice to the Health and Law ministries now that he’s back from his five day visit to the US. Let’s hope that happens soon.