Same-sex marriage: The Centre has opposed same-sex marriages in the country saying that it is not comparable with the Indian family unit concept of a husband, a wife, and children.
The Centre on Sunday filed an affidavit before Supreme Court and opposed the legal recognition of same-sex marriage.
Centre told the top court that same-sex relationships and heterosexual relationships are clearly distinct classes that cannot be treated identically.
The government apprised the Supreme Court that living together as partners by same-sex individuals, which is decriminalised now, is not comparable with the Indian family unit concept of a husband, a wife and children.
"Such relations are clearly distinct classes that cannot be treated identically," the government said.
"The State does not recognise these other forms of marriages or unions or personal understandings of relationships between individuals in a society but the same are not unlawful," it said.
"Thus, it can be clearly seen that not every heterosexual union has a status at par with marriage. To fall foul of Article 15(1), there should be discrimination only on the basis of sex. It is evident that this condition precedent is not at all satisfied in the present case. Article 15 is therefore inapplicable and cannot be used to assail the concerned statutory provisions," it added.
"It is submitted at that there can be no fundamental right for recognition of a particular form of social relationship. While it is certainly true that all citizens have a right to association under Article 19, there is no concomitant right that such associations must necessarily be granted legal recognition by the State. Nor can the right to life and liberty under Article 21 be read to include within it any implicit approval of same sex marriage," the government said.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the matter on Monday.
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