5-judge bench to hear same-sex marriage issue on April 18
New Delhi (IANS) | Chief Justice (CJI) D.Y. A five-judge bench headed by Chandrachud will hear the petitions seeking recognition of same-sex marriages on April 18. On March 13, the top court, while handing over the matter to a constitution bench, had said that it is a very fundamental issue. A bench headed by the CJI and comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, S Ravindra Bhat, Hima Kohli and P.S. Narasimha, will hear the batch of petitions on April 18.
On March 13, a bench headed by CJI Chandrachud while listing the matter for consideration before a five-judge bench said, “It is a very fundamental issue.” Proceedings will be live-streamed.
The bench said it would invoke Article 145(3) of the Constitution and the matter would be decided by a five-judge constitution bench.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, had argued before the court that the right to love or to express one’s love irrespective of the gender of the other person is entirely different, which can be achieved through an institution called court marriage. mechanisms to validate or sanctify.
Mehta had asserted that freedom of choice has already been recognized by the apex court and no one is interfering with those rights, but granting the right to marry falls within the exclusive domain of the legislature. Mehta further argued that if same-sex marriages were to be recognised, the question would be one of adoption, as the child would see either two men or two women as parents, and would be raised by the father-mother. Will not be nurtured.
He said Parliament would then have to debate and decide whether same-sex marriage needs to be recognized, taking into account social ethos and many other factors. On this occasion, the Chief Justice had told Mehta, it is not necessary for a lesbian couple or a gay couple’s adopted child to be lesbian or gay. It depends on the child, may or may not…
The Center argued in the affidavit that legal recognition of same-sex marriage would cause complete destruction in the country with the delicate balance of personal laws and accepted social values. The Center insisted that the legislative policy recognizes marriage only as a bond between a biological man and a biological woman.
Opposing pleas to recognize same-sex marriage, living together as partners and having sex by same-sex persons, now decriminalised, the central government has said it is comparable with the Indian family unit. Not there. It asserted that same-sex marriage is not in line with social morality or Indian ethos.
In the affidavit, the Center said that the concept of marriage essentially presupposes a relationship between two persons of the opposite sex. This definition is socially, culturally and legally embedded in the idea and concept of marriage and should not be disturbed or diluted by judicial interpretation.
The Centre’s response came on petitions challenging certain provisions of the Hindu Marriage Act, the Foreign Marriage Act and the Special Marriage Act and other marriage laws as unconstitutional on the grounds that they prevent same-sex couples from marrying or alternatively Deny the right to be read broadly, so as to include same-sex marriage.
–IANS
