C. Principal areas of concern and recommendations
Violence against women
10. The Committee notes the State party’s efforts to enact a legal framework to prevent and respond to violence against women, including women from the marginalized castes and communities, such as Dalit and Adivasi women, and the establishment in 2013 of the Justice Verma Committee on Amendments to Criminal Law to review existing normative gaps. The Committee is concerned, however, about the:
(h) Criminalization of same-sex relationships, as referred to in the ruling of the Supreme Court (Suresh Kumar Koushal and an other v. NAZ Foundation, 2013);
11. The Committee urges the State party:
(i) To make efforts to eliminate any criminalization of same-sex relations by studying the possibility, as accepted by the State party during its universal periodic review (see A/HRC/21/10/Add.1 ), and to take note of the ruling of the Supreme Court (Suresh Kumar Koushal and another v. NAZ Foundation, 2013) in this regard;
Link to full text of the report: Concluding Observations-CEDAW-India-2014-eng