Currently, individuals found guilty of engaging in sexual relations with people of their own gender face imprisonment for up to 10 years, for committing what the law describes as an ‘unnatural offence’. The Supreme Court has this week asked a five-judge panel to reassess its 2013 decision to reinstate the colonial-era law, which dates back to 1860. The December 2013 ruling ended a four-year period of decriminalisation in India which had boosted the visibility of the nation’s LGBT communities.  Human rights group Amnesty International has welcomed the decision to review the law, commenting that the Indian Supreme Court now has ‘another chance to correct a grave error.’ Though the law itself is rarely enforced, its spectre is still used to blackmail and intimidate LGBT individuals and groups, while deterring victims of homophobic violence and abuse from reporting attacks to the police for fear of arrest. Sources: Times of India; The Independent