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SEMINAR ORGANISED BY CENTRE FOR ASIAN LEGAL STUDIES

The Navtej Singh Johar Case: History, Substance, Context and Implications

Speaker: Professor Arun Thiruvengadam (By Skype) School of Policy and Governance, Azim Premji University

Chairperson: Assistant Professor Swati Jhaveri

Faculty of Law

National University of Singapore

Commentator: Dr Ronojoy Sen

Senior Research Fellow and Lead (Politics and

Governance) Institute of South Asian Studies

28 September 2018, (Friday), 12.55pm to 2.15pm

NUS Law (Bukit Timah Campus), Eu Tong Sen Building, Lee Sheridan Conference Room

Speaker Professor Arun Thiruvengadam, School of Policy and Governance, Azim Premji University

giving his seminar via Skype video call.

It was a privilege to have Professor Arun Thiruvengadam (School of Policy and Governance,

Azim Premji University) and Dr Ronojoy Sen (Institute of South Asian Studies, NUS) participate

in a seminar on the recent decision of the Supreme Court of India in Navtej Singh Johar & Ors

v Union of India on Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.

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On September 06, 2018, a five judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court of India read

down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code to decriminalize sex between consenting adults in

private. The Court, unanimously, held that Section 377 infringed the rights to equality, free

expression, and life in the Constitution. The talk by Professor Thiruvengadam and commentary

by Dr Sen helped to break down the complexity of the four separate judgments of the Supreme

Court in the case. The discussion that followed focused on both the doctrinal details of the

case as well as the social and political implications of the ruling.

From left: Commentator Dr Ronojoy Sen, Senior Research Fellow and Lead (Politics and Governance)

Institute of South Asian and Chairperson Assistant Professor Swati Jhaveri, NUS Law

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From left: Commentator Dr Ronojoy Sen, Senior Research Fellow and Lead (Politics and Governance)

Institute of South Asian and Chairperson Assistant Professor Swati Jhaveri, NUS Law

SKYPE Seminar in session

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Question & Answer Session: Questions from Associate Professor Umakanth Varottil, NUS Law

Question & Answer Session: Questions from Remy Choo Zheng Xi, Director, Peter Low & Choo LLC

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Question & Answer Session: Questions from Aishwarya Natarajan, Research Associate, Konrad

Adenauer Foundation.