New Delhi: The Supreme Court is set to deliver its verdict today on a batch of petitions seeking legal recognition for same-sex marriage in India. The petitions were heard by a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud for 10 days and the judgement was reserved on May 11. The other judges on the bench are Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, S Ravindra Bhat, Hima Kohli and P S Narasimha. During the hearing, the Centre had opposed the petitions and said that the court should not make any constitutional declaration on the issue as it may have unforeseen consequences. The Centre had also said that it had received responses from seven states on the issue and three of them - Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Assam - had rejected the plea for legalising same-sex marriage.


Petitioners Seek Dignity And Rights


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The petitioners had argued that same-sex couples deserve equal dignity and rights as heterosexual couples and that the court should use its plenary power and moral authority to push the society to accept them. They had also urged the court to extend social welfare benefits like opening joint bank accounts, nominating life partner in provident funds, gratuity and pension schemes to same-sex couples without going into the issue of legal sanction to their marriage.


Court Clarifies Scope Of Hearing


The court had clarified that it will not go into personal laws governing marriages while deciding the petitions and that it will only examine whether same-sex couples have a fundamental right to marry under the Constitution. The court had also said that the notion of a man and a woman, as referred to in the Special Marriage Act, is not an absolute based on genitals but rather a social construct that can evolve over time.


Background Of The Case


The petitions were filed after the Supreme Court decriminalised homosexuality in 2018 by striking down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which made consensual sex between same-sex adults a criminal offence. The petitions challenged various provisions of the Hindu Marriage Act, the Special Marriage Act, the Foreign Marriage Act and the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, which do not recognise same-sex marriage.