A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to grant legal recognition to same-sex marriages. While Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, who was heading the bench pronouncing its verdict on 21 pleas seeking legal validation for same-sex marriages directed the Centre, states and Union Territories (UTs) to ensure that the queer community is not discriminated, Justices S Ravindra Bhat, PS Narasimha and Hima Kohli were against granting legal recognition to same-sex marriages.
The verdict was pronounced with 3:2 judgements (Justices S Ravindra Bhat, PS Narasimha and Hima Kohli : CJI DY Chandrachud and Justice SK Kaul).
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WHO SAID WHAT
- Solicitor General Tushar Mehta representing the Centre in the matter welcomes the judgement and says, "I wholeheartedly welcome the judgment. I am happy that my stand has been accepted. All four judgements have taken the jurisprudence of our nation and the intellectual exercise which went into writing the judgments to the next level. There are very few courts in the world where one can expect this level of intellectual and scholarly judicial exercise. This judgement would be read across jurisdictions. Today's judgement balances the interests of individuals with the interests of a civilised society. It is an important step in jurisprudential development on the question of separation of powers and provides vivid and eloquent insights into the working of the Parliament, the Executive and the Judiciary which functions complement each other strictly as per the Constitution."
- Senior advocate Geeta Luthara who appeared for some of the petitioners in the marriage equality case said, "Even if the right to marriage has not been given, CJI has said that the same bundle of rights which every married couple has should be available to same-sex couples."
- One of the petitioners and LGBTQIA+ rights activist Harish Iyer said, "Though at the end, the verdict was not in our favour but so many observations(by Supreme Court) made were in our favour. They have also put the responsibility on Central govt and Central govt's Solicitor General said so many things against us so it is important for us to go to our elected govt, MPs and MLAs and tell them we are as different as two people. War is underway...it might take sometime but we will get societal equality"
- One of the petitioners and activist Anjali Gopalan said, " We have been fighting for long and will keep doing so. Regarding adoption also nothing was done, what the CJI said was very good regarding adoption but it's disappointing that other justices didn't agree...this is democracy but we are denying basic rights to our own citizens"
- Supreme Court Bar Association president Adish Aggarwala said, "I welcome the decision of the Supreme Court where they have not allowed same-sex marriage."
