India’s top court on Tuesday said it cannot legalise same-sex marriages, with the chief justice of the country saying making such a law is the domain of parliament.
A five-judge bench headed by the chief justice of India, Mr Justice D Y Chandrachud, heard arguments in the case between April and May this year and pronounced its verdict on Tuesday.
The judge said there was a degree of “agreement and disagreement on how far we have to go” on same-sex marriages as he began reading his order.
Two of the other four judges agreed with Mr Justice D Y Chandrachud on the court not legalising same-sex marriages, making it a majority.
‘Alligator Alcatraz’: Visit to new detention centre shows pleasure some Republicans derive from inflicting cruelty on immigrants
The Strait of Hormuz: why is it so important?
Did Iran move its uranium? Opinions split on fate of 400kg stockpile
Everyone’s friend: How Mongolia stays on good terms with Russia, China and western powers
Two other judges are yet to speak.
The court ruling comes five years after a historic 2018 judgment when the Supreme Court scrapped a colonial-era ban on gay sex.
Only Taiwan and Nepal allow same-sex unions in Asia, where largely conservative values still dominate politics and society.
Prime minister Narendra Modi’s government had opposed the petitions, calling them “urban elitist views” and stating that parliament is the right platform to debate and legislate on the matter.
It had also said that such marriages are not “comparable with the Indian family unit concept of a husband, a wife and children”. – Reuters
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023
