The petitions are listed for hearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud.
New Delhi:
The Supreme Court will hear on Monday the petitions seeking legal recognition of same-sex marriages.
The pleas are listed for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala, according to the cause list uploaded on the apex court’s website on Monday (March 13).
The top court, on January 6, had transferred all such petitions pending before various high courts, including the Delhi High Court, to the club and itself.
It had said that the counsel appearing for the Center and advocate Arundhati Katju, representing the petitioners, would together prepare a common compilation of written submissions, documents and precedents which would be relied upon during the hearing.
The bench, in its January 6 order, had said, “Soft copies of the compilations shall be exchanged between the parties and made available to the court. The petition along with related petitions and transferred matters is listed for directions on March 13, 2023.” Do it.”
The counsel for several petitioners told the bench that they wanted the apex court to transfer all the cases to it for an official pronouncement on the issue and the Center could file its reply in the top court.
The top court had on January 3 said that it would hear on January 6 the petitions seeking transfer of the petitions filed for recognition of same-sex marriages pending in the high courts to the apex court.
The apex court had on December 14 last year sought the Centre’s response on two pleas seeking transfer of petitions pending in the Delhi High Court seeking directions to recognize same-sex marriages itself.
Earlier, on November 25 last year, the apex court took up separate pleas by two same-sex couples seeking directions to the authorities concerned to enforce their right to marry and register their marriage under the Special Marriage Act. Answer was sought from
A bench headed by CJI Chandrachud, who was also part of the constitution bench that decriminalized consensual same-sex sex in 2018, issued a notice to the Center in November last year, adding that The assistance of Attorney General R Venkataramani was sought in dealing with the petitions.
A five-judge constitution bench of the top court, in a unanimous judgment delivered on September 6, 2018, said that consensual sex between adult homosexuals or heterosexuals in a private place is not an offence, striking down a part of the British-era Is. Penal law that criminalized it on the grounds that it violates the constitutional right to equality and dignity.
The petitions, on which the top court had issued notice in November last year, sought a direction that the right to marry the person of one’s choice should be given to LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer) people in their fundamental rights. be given as part of the entitlement. ,
One of the petitions has sought interpretation of the Special Marriage Act, 1954 in a gender-neutral manner, where a person is not discriminated against because of his sexual orientation.
The top court, in its 2018 judgement, held that Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) criminalizing consensual same-sex sex was “irrational, indefinite and manifestly arbitrary”.
It had said that the 158-year-old law had become a “hateful weapon” to harass members of the LGBT community by subjecting them to discrimination and unequal treatment.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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