New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday clubbed and transferred to itself all petitions pending before different high courts across the country with regard to legal recognition of same-sex marriages. A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala asked the Centre to file its joint reply to all the petitions on the issue by February 15 and directed that all the petitions will be listed in March.
A Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala has asked the Centre to file a reply to all the petitions asking for legal recognition of same-sex marriages by February 15. All the petitions asking for the legal recognition of same-sex marriages will be listed in the form of a single-clubbed petition in March 2023.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, the second-highest law officer in the country, pointed to two options for the legal status of same-sex marriages in India. One, the top court could await the Delhi High Court’s verdict on determining the legal status of same-sex marriages in India or could transfer all the petitions to itself. The top court took the latter option.
At two different points in time, in November and December last year, the Supreme Court had sought a response from the Modi government on the legal status of same-sex marriages in India. The government will now respond to the top court’s direction on clearing its stance on the determination of the legal status of same-sex marriages in India by February 15.
In September 2018, a Supreme Court bench led by the then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra struck down a part of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that criminalised same-sex relations in India. Following that landmark verdict, there is a growing uproar in the country for legal recognition of same-sex marriages.
The current intervention could be the first big intervention on LGBTQ rights after the September 2018 Supreme Court verdict.
