Supreme Court refuses to grant legal sanction to same-sex marriage
The Supreme Court today unanimously declared same-sex marriage as illegal. The five-judge bench said marriage between couples of the same sex is not constitutionally valid and refused to tweak provisions of the Special Marriage Act.
Delivering the bench’s judgment, Chief Justice DJ Chandrachud said the apex court could not strike down provisions of the Special Marriage Act in order to enable same-sex marriage and said it is the Parliament’s job to enact a relevant law.
The bench was, however, split on the other aspects of the judgment. A majority of three judges—S Ravindra Bhat, Hima Kohli and PS Narasimha—said that same-sex couples also do not have the right to civil union (to enable which Parliament has to pass a law, they said) or to adopt children, but have the right to choose their own partner.
A ‘civil union’ is a marriage-like legal sanction that grants same-sex couples certain rights and responsibilities that are normally given to married couples, like employment, inheritance, property and parental rights. However, unlike marriage, it has no religious sanction.
Both sides agreed that transgender persons have the right to marry.
The minority side—Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Sanjay Krishan Kaul—said same-sex couples have the right to civil union as well as to adopt children. They said the right of same-sex couples to enter civil unions flows from Part 3 of the Constitution.
On May 11, the bench had reserved its verdict on the pleas after a marathon hearing of 10 days.
