As soon as Justice GS Singhvi and Justice SJ Mukhopadhayay, who headed the Supreme Court bench that restored a ban on gay sex read out the judgment, thousands in the city wept, ruing the end of their lives as they know it. ‘We lost’ was the first message that members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community exchanged with one another. They said that they had lost their dignity to life, lost against the religious groups and lost against the country.

Calling themselves criminals and holding posters, activists carried out protests in the streets and Azad Maidan, as they said that their entire existence was now illegal and hence, they were criminals. One of the protesters said, “This country feels for the unborn, makes laws for them. But what about us, the living, who are being discriminated against?”