Sorry, No Wedding Bells

In a setback to India’s marriage equality movement, the Supreme Court on October 17 ruled against legalising same-sex marriages, holding that only the legislature can decide on the issue

- Kaushik Deka

While hearing 21 petitions filed by same-sex couples and activists, the top court made it clear that it can’t tinker with the scope of the Special Marriage Act (SMA), 1954, to include queer people and that it will not interfere with religious personal laws, leaving it to Parliament to look into the subject. The five-judge constitution bench, which had held a marathon hearing of 10 days in April-May earlier this year, comprised Chief Justice (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, S. Ravindra Bhat, Hima Kohli and P.S. Narasimha.

Four separate judgments were given, one each by CJI Chandrachud, Justice Kaul and Justice Narasimha, and one written jointly by Justices Bhat and Kohli. The majority verdicts by Justices Bhat, Kohli and Narasimha declined to grant same-sex couples the right to enter civil unions and adopt children, while the minority verdicts by CJI Chandrachud and Justice Kaul batted for it. The bench, nonetheless, was unanimous in recognising that same-sex couples must not be discriminated against and asked the Centre and states to make laws to protect their dignity and rights.

What the SC said unanimously