The Central government on Thursday informed the Bombay high court that it was considering bringing eunuchs under the purview of Section 375 (rape) and sought time to file a detailed affidavit reply. The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by an NGO. A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice M.S. Sanklecha was hearing the PIL filed by a city-based NGO Salvation of Oppressed Eunuchs and others, who sought protection of the fundamental rights of the eunuch and trangender community. The current definition of rape, under Section 375 of IPC, only covers cases where the victim is a woman. The court had, in its last hearing, asked the Union ministry of social justice and empowerment to list what steps it proposed to take in this regard. The Union’s lawyer, advocate Som Sinha, sought two weeks’ time to file an affidavit. “The ministry of social justice and empowerment was in consultation with the ministry of home affairs on this issue of making the Section 375 gender-neutral,” he said. The NGO’s chairperson Piyush Saxena told the court that the ministry has taken frequent adjournments in the past 20 months. He said he should, therefore, be allowed to proceed with his arguments on other prayers. However, the judges said that the ministry should be first allowed to file its reply covering all aspects raised in the PIL. Granting time to Centre till October 25 to file the reply, the court posted the next hearing on December 5. The PIL also states that there are about 19 lakh eunuchs in the country, but they are made to run from pillar-to-post to get any documentation done.
