SC to hear pleas on transfer of petitions on recognition of same-sex marriage

The Supreme Court will hear on January 6 the pleas seeking transfer to the apex court of the petitions pending before high courts for recognition of samesex marriagesThe petitions were mentioned on Tuesday for urgent listing before a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha We will take it up on January 6 the bench told the lawyer who mentioned the matterOn December 14 last year the top court had sought a response from the Centre to two pleas seeking transfer to the apex court of the petitions pending in the Delhi High Court for directions to recognise samesex marriagesPrior to that on November 25 last year the apex court had sought the response of 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 ActA bench headed by CJI Chandrachud who was also part of the Constitution bench which in 2018 decriminalised consensual gay sex had in November last year issued notice to the Centre besides seeking the assistance of Attorney General for India R Venkataramani in dealing with the pleasThe top courts fivejudge Constitution bench in a pathbreaking 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 Britishera penal law which criminalised it on the ground that it violated the constitutional right to equality and dignityAlso read SC seeks CBI response on bail plea of excouncillor serving life term in 1984 antiSikh riots caseThe pleas on which the top court had issued notice in November last year have sought a direction that the right to marry a person of ones choice be extended to LGBTQ lesbian gay bisexual transgender and queer people as part of their fundamental rightOne of the petitions has sought interpretation of the Special Marriage Act 1954 in a genderneutral manner where a person is not discriminated due to their sexual orientationThe top court had also taken note of the fact that various petitions on the same issue are pending before high courtsThe apex court had in its 2018 judgement held that Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that criminalised consensual gay sex was irrational indefensible and manifestly arbitraryIt had said the 158year old law has become an odious weapon to harass the LGBT community by subjecting them to discrimination and unequal treatmentThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever