NEW DELHI: Four years after decriminalising consensual sex between homosexuals, the Supreme Court on Friday sought the Centre’s response on same-sex marriage under the Special Marriage Act. The Act provides for civil marriage for Indian citizens irrespective of their religion or faith but limits access to couples comprising one male and one female.
A bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli was hearing the pleas filed by two gay couples, who said non-recognition of their marriage amounts to discrimination. The bench issued notice to the government and posted the matter after four weeks.
Senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul informed the bench that similar petitions are pending before the Kerala and Delhi high courts seeking recognition of same-sex marriage under the Special Marriage Act, Foreign Marriage Act and Hindu Marriage Act.
Terming the issues highlighted in the pleas ‘live’, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi said, “It’s an important issue affecting the nation. These are sequels of Navtej Singh and Puttaswamy case. We’re only talking about Special Marriage Act. The Act says marriage should be between two persons and doesn’t say that it’ll be a union of A & B.”
In Navtej Singh’s case, the SC had held that LGBTQ+ community possesses the same human, fundamental and constitutional rights as other citizens. In Puttaswamy’s case, the SC’s nine-judge bench had held that the Constitution protects non-binary individuals and that protections under Articles 14, 15, 16, 19 & 21 cannot be restricted to biological sex of “male” or “female”.
