Same-sex marriage verdict : No legal recognition, rules SC by 3-2 majority

Same-sex marriage verdict: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that there cannot be legal recognition for same-sex marriages, doing so by a 3-2 majority. As many as four judgments were delivered and a slew of observations made by the apex court.

On May 11, a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and including Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, S Ravindra Bhat, Hima Kohli, and P S Narasimha, reserved its verdict on the pleas after a marathon hearing of 10 days.

During the marathon hearings, petitioners through senior advocates including Mukul Rohatgi, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Raju Ramachandran, Anand Grover, Geeta Luthra, KV Viswanathan, Saurabh Kirpal, and Menaka Guruswamy stressed on the equality rights of the LGBTQIA+ community and pushed to acknowledge such a union which would ensure LGBTQIA lead a "dignified" life like heterosexuals.

Meanwhile, the Centre had opposed the pleas arguing that the legislative policy of India has consciously validated a union only between a biological man and a biological woman. On May 3, the Centre told the top court it would constitute a committee headed by the cabinet secretary to examine administrative steps that could be taken to address "genuine concerns" of same-sex couples without going into the issue of legalising their marriage.

Source:-Hindustan Times