SC forms new Constitution Bench to hear same sex marriage case
The Hindu
Supreme Court forms new Constitution Bench to hear same sex marriage case
The Supreme Court on April 15, 2023 announced the formation of a new Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud to hear a series of petitions seeking legal recognition of same sex marriages.
The other four Associate Judges on the Bench are Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, S. Ravindra Bhat, Hima Kohli and PS Narasimha.
The presence of Justice Kaul, the senior most judge in the Supreme Court after the Chief Justice, provides an additional gravitas. It is not often that the second senior most judge joins a Constitution Bench as an Associate Judge.
The hearing would begin from April 18 and is expected to be streamed live.
In the previous hearing, the Chief Justice had taken care to soothe the government’s anxiety about how same sex unions may “affect” the Indian “social ethos”.
The Centre expressed worry about the “psychological impact” such a relationship would have on children.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the government had flagged that by taking on this case the court would be “shouldering a very heavy burden of how society will develop henceforth”.
Justice G. Jayachandran of the Madras High Court has said that Justice G.R. Swaminathan has exhibited bias against the State police by “showing interest in passing orders hastily without consulting the Bench partner (Justice P.B. Balaji)“ in a habeas corpus petition filed against the preventive detention of YouTuber ‘Savukku’ Shankar alias A. Shankar under the Goondas Act.