The Supreme Court on January 9 dismissed the review petitions filed against the verdict refusing to recognise same-sex marriages.
The review petitions were considered by a five-judge bench comprising Justice BR Gavai, Justice BV Nagarathna, Justice Suryakant, Justice PS Narasimha, and Justice Dipankar Datta. The bench was constituted after Justice Sanjiv Khanna recused from hearing the review petitions last year in July.
“We do not find any error apparent on the record. We further find that the view expressed in both judgments are in accordance with law and as such no interference is warranted,” the order of the review bench said.
The petitioners had sought an open courtroom hearing stating that the issue involved public interest. However, the review pleas were heard in the chamebers.
In October 2023, a bench led by the then Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud declined to legally recognise same-sex marraiges in a 3-2 verdict. The top court also declined to allow civil unions for same-sex couples.
The judges unanimously maintained that it was not possible to tweak the Special Marriage Act, 1954, to allow same-sex marriages in India.The bench also said that it did not want to intervene in the legislative domain and that it would be best to take up the matter in the Parliament, where laws regarding according legal status to same-sex marriage could be passed and debated upon.
While Chandrachud and Justice SK Kaul agreed to recognise the right of same-sex couples to form a civil union, the other three judges disagreed on this aspect. Justices Bhat, Kohli and Narasimha held that civil unions between same sex couples are not recognised under law and thus they cannot claim the right to adopt children either.
A civil union is different from marriage as it grants ‘civil union’ status which would have provided the queer couples specific rights that married couples normally enjoy.
This decision of the Supreme Court was challenged by the petitioners by way of review petitions, which the five-judge bench dismissed today.
