As SC refers Section 377 appeal to chief justice, here's a look at its history

A two-judge bench, with justice SA Bobde at the helm, heard a writ petition filed by Sangeet Natak Academi awardee Navtej Singh seeking decriminalisation of consensual same-sex intercourse between adults, yesterday.

The bench has referred this petition to the chief justice of India saying he has to decide whether this can be tagged with other curative petitions challenging IPC Section 377 and whether these should be heard.

On February 2, a set of curative petitions that challenged the court's December 11, 2013 judgement upholding Section 377 of the IPC was referred to a constitutional bench by a bench comprising chief justice TS Thakur and justices Anil Dave and JS Khehar.

Here is a quick recap of the what the law is and the long drawn battle of the LGBT community against the law:

The archaic law whose basis lies on Victorian morality:

Section 377 of the IPC came into force in 1861. The law, written during Queen Victoria's regime, states "Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 10 years, and shall also be liable to fine."

The 2009 judgement when court legalised homosexuality:

The Delhi Court's July 2009 judgement effectively legalized gay sex. The ruling stated the law to be unconstitutional and a violation of fundamental rights as guaranteed by the Indian Constitution. It said the archaic law "denies a gay person a right to full personhood".

2013: When the Supreme Court took a U-turn

The SC quashed the Delhi High court's decision in December 2013 and upheld the constitutional validity of Section 377. The bench, headed by Justice GS Singhvi, stated that changing the law is a power which rests only on the law-makers and not judges.

Vulnerability of the LGBTQI to social stigma and actions of the corrupt police:
Asserting one's sexuality in the conservative Indian society has for long been a taboo. In light of this, the battle for emanicipation amongst the LGBT community has been a long and tedious one.

The biggest impediments are the narrow religious and cultural beiliefs, for instance, yoga guru Baba Ramdev believes that homosexuality is a disease that has no cure.

The vacillating fight of the community has yielded one positive result, that is, the current Indian mainstream is comparatively more tolerant towards homosexuality and a large part of the population has come together to join the fight against the parochial law.

Naz Foundation claims that after the recriminalisation of gay sex, blackmail for extorting money (in many cases threatening to complain to police or parents after filming the act), intimidation, and harassment of gay and lesbian community members by organised gangs and police, have increased manifold - as have rapes and other kinds of tortures.

Political rift on Section 377:
This is an issue which has split the BJP and its supporters. The party which earlier stood by the SC's verdict of upholding Section 377, is now in favour of the Delhi High Court's ruling to decriminalise the judgement.

While finance minister Arun Jaitley is in favour of reviewing the law, Home Minister Rajnath Singh stands against it and considers homosexuality to be 'unnatural'. External Affairs Minister Susma Swaraj stands neutral with ruling.

December 2015: Shashi Tharoor's move to amend Section 377:
Shashi Tharoor introduced a Private Members Bill seeking to decrminalise the law in December 2015. The introduction of the Bill which sought amendment to the IPC by seeking to "substitute a new section for section 377 of the IPC" was objected to by BJP member Nishikant Dubey and was struck down in the Lok Sabha.

Narendra Modi maintains silence on the issue of Section 377:
The PM stood in favour of amending the laws pertaining to transgenders in November 2015. The NDA government has dedicated an entire draft law to protect the rights of the 'third gender'. This points to the change in the thought process among the top officials in the government.

The upcoming final verdict is a glimmer of hope for the LGBT:
The two-year-long drawn battle has been harrowing for the LGBT community. They have been conducting vigils across the nations and anybody can join them in their fight and express support.

A three-bench headed by Chief Juctice TS Thakur will hear the curative petition filed by gay rights rights activists and NGO Naz Foundation against the apex court's December 11, 2013, judgement upholding Section 377 of IPC and the January 2014 order, by which it had dismissed a bunch of review petitions.

The gay rights activists have stated that thousands from the LGBT community became open about their sexual identity during the past four years after the Delhi High Court decriminalised gay sex and they were now facing the threat of being prosecuted.

If the current petition is not in favour of the community, the fight will only strengthen. According to Mumbai-based gay-right activist Gautam Bhan, "It won't make everyone go quiet and back into the closet."

"It is a matter of when and not if. We go to Tuesday with pride, not fear" Gautam Bhan #NoGoingBack to #Section377 pic.twitter.com/IYsdWsTirl delhiqueerpride (@delhiqueerpride) January 31, 2016