The Supreme Court is going to deliver judgement on a clutch of petitions seeking legal recognition of same-sex marriages on Tuesday, reported PTI.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court's Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud heard the pleas. The other judges on the bench were Justices SK Kaul, SR Bhat, Hima Kohli, and PS Narasimha.
A number of petitions were filed to seek recognition of same-sex marriages under the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA), Special Marriage Act (SMA), Foreign Marriage Act (FMA), etc, but the court only took the pleas concerning the secular SMA and not the religion-specific personal laws such as HMA.
After holding 10 hearings in the case, the Supreme Court reserved the judgement on May 11, 2023.
While the Supreme Court had decriminalised same-sex relations in 2017, same-sex marriages continue to be unrecognised. The Centre has opposed any such recognition and has said the petitioners represent "urban elite" and that such recognition would "create havoc" in the society.
The Supreme Court took up the matter after it clubbed all the petitions seeking recognition of same-sex marriages in different high courts of the country and transferred them to itself in January. The order came from a bench of CJI Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala. Then, hearings began on April 18 and concluded on May 11 when the SC reserved its judgement.
The Centre and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have constantly opposed any legal recognition to same-sex marriages from the Supreme Court. The Centre also informed the court that the matter is the domain of the Legislature, not the Judiciary.
Earlier in April, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that the government "does not agree" with same-sex marriages and its affidavit in the Apex Court opposing the pleas is clear. He also said that there needs to be a public debate on the issue.
"Let us see what the Supreme Court does, but we have presented our side through our affidavit that we don't agree with this...There should be extensive and public debate on this because it is a great change. We also said that Parliament and state assemblies should consider this," said Shah at an event organised held by a news channel.
