SC reserves verdict on legalizing same-sex marriage

The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on a batch of pleas seeking legal validation for same-sex marriage.

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud reserved its judgment after a 10-day hearing in the matter.

The bench, also comprising Justices S K Kaul, S R Bhat, Hima Kohli and P S Narasimha, heard the rejoinder arguments advanced by senior advocates, including A M Singhvi, Raju Ramachandran, K V Viswanathan, Anand Grover and Saurabh Kirpal, who represented the petitioners.

During the hearing on Wednesday, the Centre told the apex court that any constitutional declaration made by it on pleas seeking legal validation for same-sex marriage may not be a “correct course of action” as the court will not be able to foresee, envisage, comprehend and deal with its fallout.

The bench had observed that everyone was presuming that the declaration would be in the form of a writ.

“We are all presuming that the declaration will be in the form of a writ that grant this or grant that. This is what we are accustomed to. What I was hinting was, as a constitutional court, we recognise only a state of affairs and draw the limit there…,” Justice Bhat had said.

The Centre had also told the court that it had received responses from seven states on the issue of same-sex marriage and the governments of Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Assam had opposed the petitioners’ contention seeking legal validation for such wedlock.