The Supreme Court on Thursday (January 9, 2025) refused to consider legalizing gay marriage in India. In the review petitions challenging the old decision of the Supreme Court, it was said that the Supreme Court should review its old decision of not recognizing gay marriage. However, the apex court refused to entertain these petitions.
A bench of Justice BR Gavai, Justice Surya Kant, Justice BV Nagarathna, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Dipankar Dutta in the chamber review petitions Considered. After this they were rejected. In its earlier decision, the Supreme Court had said that there is no constitutional basis for giving legal approval to gay marriage. In July 2024, Justice Sanjeev Khanna recused himself from the hearing.
After this, a new bench was constituted to hear these review petitions. It is noteworthy that Justice PS Narasimha is the only member of the original bench to deliver the verdict in October 2023, as all other members (CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice SK Kaul, Ravindra Bhat and Hima Kohli) have retired.
The review bench said that it has carefully read the old judgments on gay marriage and did not find any error in these judgments. “We do not find any error apparent on record,” the bench order said. We further find that the views expressed in both the judgments are in accordance with law and thus no interference is warranted.”
In fact, on October 17, 2023, the Supreme Court had refused to give legal recognition to gay marriages and said that it is a matter for the legislature. However, all the judges on the bench agreed that the Government of India would constitute a committee to examine the rights of persons involved in homosexual relationships.
The Supreme Court also unanimously held that same-sex couples have the right to cohabit without violence, coercion or threat. Refrained from passing any direction to formally recognize such relationships as marriage. The then CJI DY Chandrachud and Justice SK Kaul agreed to recognize the right of same-sex couples to form civil unions, but the other three judges disagreed.
After this, several review petitions were filed in the Supreme Court. These petitions criticized the decision to not provide any legal protection to gay couples despite acknowledging the discrimination they face. He argued that this is an abdication of the Court’s duty to uphold and protect fundamental rights.
It was also argued in these petitions that the decision is contradictory and clearly unjust. The Court acknowledged that the petitioners’ fundamental rights were being violated by the government through discrimination, but failed to take the logical next step of prohibiting this discrimination.
