What is an unnatural offfense under section 377?

It states, "Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with '[imprisonment for life] or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.

Penetration is sufficient to constitute the carnal intercourse necessary for the offence described in this section.'Section 377 of the IPC is intended to punish carnal intercourse committed against the order of nature by a man with another man, or in the same unnatural manner with a woman, or by a man or a woman in any manner with a beast.

Section 377 considers the acts of sodomy, buggery and bestiality as unnatural sex offences.Requirements for conviction:The accused must have carnal intercourse with a man, or a woman or an animal;The act was against the order of nature;The act was done voluntarily by the accused; and there was proof of penetration.

Under Section 377 consent is wholly irrelevant. The party consenting would be equally liable as an abettor.

According to Justice M F Saldanha, former judge of the Bombay and Karnataka High Court, scrapping the law will not make much of a difference.

People will continue to do what they want and if the parties are consenting then who filed the complaint? One needs to be careful while dealing with this issue.

You cannot bring the entire issue under one. When dealing with a case of sodomy involving a child there was only Section 377 available before me. What happens in such cases when the entire section is scrapped. Hence one needs to reword the entire thing carefully.

-- Vicky Nanjappa