He Supreme Court On July 10, it is scheduled to consider a series of requests to review its ruling last year that denied legal recognition to same-sex marriage.
According to the July 10 case list posted on the apex court’s website, a five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud would consider in the chamber the petitions seeking review of the October 17 last year verdict.
According to practice, requests for review are considered in court by five-judge tribunals.
Apart from the CJI, the other members of the bench will be Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Hima Kohli, BV Nagarathna and PS Narasimha.
In a setback for gay rights activists, the Supreme Court on October 17 last year refused to grant legal recognition to same-sex marriage, saying there was “no unconditional right” to marriage except for those that are recognised by law.
However, the apex court had made a strong case for the rights of queer people not to face discrimination in accessing goods and services that are available to others, safe houses known as “Garima Greh” in all districts to provide shelter to community members facing harassment and violence and dedicated hotline numbers that they could use in case of trouble.
Holding that transgender persons in heterosexual relationships have the freedom and right to marry under existing legal provisions, the apex court said the right to legal recognition of the right to union, similar to marriage or civil union, or granting legal status to the relationship can only be realised through an “enacted law”.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Chandrachud had issued four separate verdicts on a batch of 21 petitions seeking legal sanction of same-sex marriages.
The five judges agreed to refuse to legally recognise same-sex marriage under the Special Marriage Act and noted that it was up to Parliament to change the law to validate such a union.
While the CJI had written a separate 247-page verdict, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul (now retired) had written a 17-page judgment in which he broadly agreed with Justice Chandrachud’s views.
Justice S Ravindra Bhat (now retired), who authored an 89-page judgment for himself and Justice Hima Kohli, disagreed with certain conclusions reached by the Chief Justice, including on the applicability of adoption rules to queer couples.
Justice PS Narasimha had said in his 13-page verdict that he was in complete agreement with the reasoning given and the conclusions arrived at by Justice Bhat.
The judges were unanimous in holding that homosexuality is a natural phenomenon and not an “urban or elite” phenomenon.
In its judgment, the CJI had noted Attorney General Tushar Mehta’s assurance that the Centre will constitute a committee chaired by the Cabinet Secretary to define and elucidate the scope of rights of same-sex couples in union.
He LGBTQIA++ Human rights activists, who had won a landmark legal battle in 2018 at the Supreme Court that decriminalised consensual same-sex relations, had gone to the apex court seeking validation of same-sex marriage and the ensuing compensations such as the right to adopt, enrol as parents in schools, open bank accounts and avail inheritance and insurance benefits.
Some of the petitioners had urged the Supreme Court to use its plenary power, “prestige and moral authority” to pressure society to recognise a union that would ensure LGBTQIA++ people lead a “dignified” life like heterosexuals.
LGBTQIA++ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, pansexual, two-spirit, asexual and related people.
This story has been obtained from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. DailyNewsHype accepts no responsibility for the reliability, truthfulness, accuracy and data of the text. DailyNewsHype/DailyNewsHype.com management reserves the sole right to modify, delete or remove (without notice) the content at its absolute discretion for any reason.
