AMN / WEB DESK
A five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice B.R. Gavai, on Thursday (January 9, 2025) rejected petitions seeking a review of an October 2023 judgment which refused to legalise same-sex marriage.
“We have carefully gone through the judgments delivered by Justices S. Ravindra Bhat (former judge) speaking for himself and for Hima Kohli (former judge) as well as the concurring opinion expressed by one of us (Justice P.S. Narasimha), constituting the majority view. We do not find any error apparent on the face of the record. We further find the view expressed in both the judgments is in accordance with law and as such, no interference is warranted. Accordingly, the review petitions are dismissed,” the Review Bench held in a short order.
A bench comprising Justices BR Gavai, Surya Kant, BV Nagarathna, PS Narasimha and Justice Dipankar Datta took the petitions related to the matter in chambers.
The new bench was constituted after Justice Sanjiv Khanna, the present CJI, recused from hearing the review petitions on July 10.
Notably, Justice P S Narasimha is the only member of the original Constitution bench comprising five judges which delivered the verdict, as former CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justices S K Kaul, Ravindra Bhat, and Hima Kohli have retired.
The October 17, 2023, judgment, delivered by a 3-2 majority, declined to grant same-sex couples legal recognition for marriages or civil unions, stating that the issue fell within the legislative domain.
The majority opinion, penned by justices Bhat, Kohli and Narasimha, held that extending the right to marry or enter civil unions to queer couples was not a constitutionally protected mandate.
However, the dissenting opinions of CJI Chandrachud and justice Kaul emphasised the constitutional rights of queer individuals to form unions and adopt children, bemoaning the exclusion of non-heterosexual couples from existing legal frameworks. Both underscored that the State has a duty to create enabling laws that protect LGBTQIA+ rights.