Supreme Court Gives Centre 4 Weeks To Respond To Pleas For Recognition Of Gay Marriages
NDTV
A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, who was also part of the Constitution bench which in 2018 decriminalised consensual gay sex, issued notice to the Centre besides seeking the assistance of Attorney General for India R Venkataramani in dealing with the pleas.
Over four years after decriminalising consensual gay sex between adults, the Supreme Court on Friday sought response from the central government to separate pleas by two gay couples seeking enforcement of their right to marry and a direction to the authorities to register their marriage under the Special Marriage Act.
A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, who was also part of the Constitution bench which in 2018 decriminalised consensual gay sex, issued notice to the Centre besides seeking the assistance of Attorney General for India R Venkataramani in dealing with the pleas.
"Issue notice returnable in four weeks. Liberty to serve the central agency. Notice be also issued to the Attorney General for India as well," the bench, which also comprised Justice Hima Kohli, said.
The top court's five-judge Constitution bench, in a path-breaking unanimous judgement delivered on September 6, 2018, held consensual sex among adult homosexuals or heterosexuals in private space is not a crime while striking down a part of the British-era penal law which criminalised it on the ground that it violated the constitutional right to equality and dignity.
