Thank you for the correction. It was the initial opinion of the SC “The Court held that amending or repealing section 377 should be a matter left to Parliament, not the judiciary.” But later revisited and termed section 377 unconstitutional.

Socially and culturally yes. But legalisation is the foot in the right direction. They will no longer be openly harassed by the legal system. I mean isn’t it same in US to some degree, especially if you’re in a conservative circle?

I’m no longer in India but still follow news. SC acts pretty independently from the govt. There have been cases when they have been at odds and most of the time govt has to comply. If I recall correctly the case to decriminalise homosexuality was referred by SC to be taken up by in legislation instead as court felt it didn’t have a legal right to change that law( which they did). It’s not clear atm what legal arguments are to be made in case of same sex marriage but pretty confident SC will work towards it than oppose it.

Edit: as corrected by /u/throwreddit666 the Parliament never struck down the law but SC itself later revisited to term it unconstitutional.