On 4 April 2023, MP Premnath Dolawatte’s private member bill to amend sections 365 and 365A of the penal code was read for the first time in parliament. Section 365 under the title “unnatural offences” and section 365A under the title “acts of gross indecency between persons” have been used in the past to harass the LGBTQI+ community.
On 17 April 2023, three petitioners appearing before the Supreme Court claimed that the private member bill was “inconsistent with one or more articles of the constitution”. On 9 May 2023, the Supreme Court determined that the “bill as a whole or any provision thereof is not inconsistent with the constitution”. Manthri.lk evaluated the current penal code and the proposed amendment to the penal code.
