Allahabad HC Quashes UP Govt Order Revoking Home Guard’s Appointment for his Sexual Orientation

The Allahabad High Court recently quashed an order cancelling the appointment of a Home Guard on account of his sexual orientation.

A single-judge bench presided by Justice Sunita Agarwal directed the UP government to take petitioner-Pramod Kumar Sharma back in service with immediate effect.

“Sexual orientation of the petitioner has been stated to be indulgence in untoward activity, which is completely in violation of the observations of the Apex Court in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India reported in (2018) 10 SCC 1, Justice Agarwal observed.

“The Apex Court in the said case has held that the sexual orientation of the person is his individual choice and any act of treating it as an offence would be interference in the right of the privacy of the person concerned”, the judge said referring to the decision in Navtej Singh Johar’s case.

The high court said it was held in Navtej Johar’s case that any display of affection amongst members of the LGBT community towards their partners in the public, so long as it did not amount to indecency or had the potential to disturb public order, could not be bogged down by the majority’s perception.

It also observed that the impugned order from reading itself was vindictive in nature.

The petitioner was dismissed from service after a video of him with a partner went viral.

The article was originally published in The Leaflet.

Read the Order