No legal recognition for same sex marriage in India: SC

Kathmandu: India’s Supreme court has ruled that there cannot be legal recognition for same-sex marriages. The ruling was given by a 3-2 majority of the constitutional bench on Tuesday, Indian media reported.

The bench headed by CJ Chndrachud had five-judges including Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, S Ravindra Bhat, Hima Kohli, and P S Narasimha, had on May 10 reserved its verdict on the pleas after a marathon hearing of 10 days.

According to the Hindustan Times, during  the marathon hearings, petitioners through senior advocates including Mukul Rohatgi, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Raju Ramachandran, Anand Grover, Geeta Luthra, KV Viswanathan, Saurabh Kirpal, and Menaka Guruswamy stressed on the equality rights of the LGBTQIA+ community and pushed to acknowledge such a union which would ensure LGBTQIA lead a “dignified” life like heterosexuals.

Meanwhile, the Centre had opposed the pleas arguing that the legislative policy of India has consciously validated a union only between a biological man and a biological woman. On May 3, the Centre told the top court it would constitute a committee headed by the cabinet secretary to examine administrative steps that could be taken to address “genuine concerns” of same-sex couples without going into the issue of legalising their marriage.

Three judges of the five-judge Constitution bench disagreed with the Chief Justice of India on adoption rights for LGBTQIA people but agreed that the Special Marriage Act, 1956 (SMA) cannot be interpreted in such a manner so as to enable marriage between queer persons.

Justice Ravindra Bhat, Justice Hima Kohli and Justice PV Narasimha have given two separate judgments whereby they have shown certain agreement and disagreement with CJI’s order, the Hindustan Times said.