New Delhi, Oct 17: In a much-anticipated ruling, the Supreme Court of India has refrained from legalizing same-sex marriage, leaving many hoping for a historic decision disappointed.
The failure to reach a unanimous verdict in favor of same-sex marriage was due to the differing opinions among the five-panel bench of judges.
The bench, consisting of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, S Ravindra Bhat, Hima Kohli, and PS Narasimha, could not reach a consensus. While CJI Chandrachud and Justice Kaul were in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage, the other three Justices opposed it.
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Justices Hima Kohli and PS Narasimha concurred with Justice Ravindra Bhat’s view that there is no unqualified right to marry.
The main point of contention was whether marriage is an unchanging institution. Chief Justice Chandrachud emphasized that it is the responsibility of the Parliament to decide on potential changes to the Special Marriage Act.
The petitioners had requested amending the Special Marriage Act to replace the terms ‘man and woman’ with ‘individual’ and ‘husband and wife’ with ‘couple’ to allow same-sex marriages to be registered.
