• Harshad G Bandodkar
• Sonia Balkrishna Shirodkar

The Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita 2023 has been introduced by the legislature as an alternative for the hundred and sixty year old Indian Penal Code 1860 with the intention of revolutionizing the entire criminal jurisprudence in India, while upholding modern day standards and constitutional doctrines. A noteworthy change made in the enactment was elimination of the provision relating Section 377, which punished the perpetrator for the crime of ‘Unnatural Offences’. This paper tries to asses and evaluates the legal & social repercussions which would be entailed by this exclusion. Traditionally the Britishers had penalized homosexual activity as an instrument of obstruding colonial mindset and as an apparatus of preserving moral; principles by illegalizing consensual as well as non-consensual same-sex relationships. In 2018, the Supreme Court of India in the landmark Judgment of Navtej Singh Johar V. Union of India 2018, had watered down the effects of Section 377 of IPC 1860 by legalizing the same-sex consensual relationships thus providing relief to the LGBTQ+ community but at the same time, it maintained the criminality of forceful and perverse o4r exploitative sexual acts committed without consent. The complete removal of the concept of ‘Unnatural Offences’ from the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita 2023, swings the legal structure of the criminal justice system in the direction of wide focal point on the topic of consent and age-appropriate relations rather than moralistic ideas of sexuality. Though this elimination is projected as liberal stride, but it creates a legal void as to the existence of legal safeguard in opposition to non-consensual act, bestiality and sodomy which were covered under section 377 of IPC 1860. The paper with the reference to various legal systems around the world tries to make a comparative study to find out whether worldwide trend of legalizing consensual sexual activities and whether there is any certainty of a strong mechanism for safeguarding against sexual violence and abuse. It also studies the impending societal resistance to this alteration in India’s sociocultural background as discussions over sexuality, morality and criminal law remain severely debatable. This paper concludes by proposing certain safeguards to stabilize inclusivity and justice, which will enable for fostering an era of equitable and rights oriented legal regime

Unnatural Offences, Consent, Sexuality, Sodomy, Exploitative Sexual Acts

"Critical Analysis of Exclusion of Unnatural Offences under Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita 2023.", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.12, Issue 3, page no.151-161, March-2025, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIRGT06012.pdf

"Critical Analysis of Exclusion of Unnatural Offences under Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita 2023.", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.12, Issue 3, page no. pp151-161, March-2025, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIRGT06012.pdf