AS the New Year approaches, the shock of the Section 377 judgment might recede into the background - but not for everybody.
A friend of mine, a man, has been in a live-in relationship with his boyfriend for the past year-and-a-half at a rented south Delhi apartment.
But, following the judgment, they were asked by the landlord to either move out before he complains to the police, or pay double the rent that they have been paying.
It's important to remember: the debate over 377 isn't just an academic one.
It wouldn't be wrong to say that the Supreme Court's verdict criminalising gay sex has erased the basic human rights of thousands of Indian citizens, and in the process given thousands of others the right to harass the LGBT community.
We live in a country where love - real, normal love, not the syrupy Bollywood kind - is looked down upon by the masses.
When lovers from different religious backgrounds elope, that becomes the pretext for a communal riots. Inter-caste marriages often result in cold-blooded murder.
As if these all-too-common examples of society cracking its regressive whip weren't enough, now the court and cops have the power to prosecute people having consensual sex.
The Supreme Court might be the highest authority in the land, but nobody should be allowed to brand someone a criminal because the person is in love or having sex.
And claims that the law is barely used are no excuse - as my friend's case shows, simply having something like this on the books is enough to have a serious impact on the rights and liberties of ordinary people.
The headlines will change and most people - even those who agitated on behalf of the LGBT community - will move on, but as we enter 2014, we must remember that an entire section of ordinary Indians have been rendered criminals for no fault of their own.
© 2013 Nasreen Ghani
Published in Daily Mail and Mail Today
