New Delhi: The Supreme Court will today hear a batch of pleas seeking legal validation for same-sex marriages in the country. As per Monday’s cause list uploaded on the apex court’s website, the pleas will be heard by a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices PS Narsimha and JB Pardiwala.
On Sunday, the Centre had filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court opposing recognition of same-sex marriage. In its affidavit, the Centre has said that the same-sex relationships and heterosexual relationships are clearly distinct classes that cannot be treated identically, as per a report by news agency ANI.
The Centre apprised the top court that living together as partners by same-sex individuals, which is decriminalised now, is not comparable with the Indian family unit concept of a husband, a wife and children born out of the union.
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It further mentioned that statutory recognition of marriage limited to heterosexual in nature, is the norm throughout history and is foundational to both the existence and continuance of the State. It said that there is no violation of fundamental rights due to the non-recognition of same-sex marriages.
One of the petitions filed in the Supreme Court has sought an interpretation of the Special Marriage Act, 1954 in a gender-neutral manner where a person is not discriminated against due to his sexual orientation.
The top court's five-judge Constitution bench, in a path-breaking unanimous verdict delivered on September 6, 2018, held that consensual sex among adult homosexuals or heterosexuals in a private space is not a crime while striking down a part of the British-era penal law that criminalised it on the ground that it violated the constitutional right to equality and dignity.
The apex court, in its 2018 judgment, held that section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that criminalised consensual gay sex was "irrational, indefensible and manifestly arbitrary".