Gay couple seek legal recognition of their marriage in India at the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud presiding over the bench issued notice on the plea by a 46-year-old Indian national who said he got married to a US citizen in September 2010 and registered their marriage in Pennsylvania, USA, in June 2014.
As the Registrar of Marriages refused to grant their request, the couple, residents of Pune, were unable to get their marriage registered under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
They tried to register the marriage under Foreign Marriage Act, 1969 at the Indian embassy in Washington DC, but were turned down.
The plea before SC, filed through advocate Nupur Kumar, claimed this amounted to violation of the petitioners’ rights under Articles 14, 15, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India. As the Supreme Court decriminalised same-sex relations in Navtej Shingh Johar v Union of India, LGBT and non-LGBT Indians are guaranteed equal rights.
According to the petition, LGBTQIA+ people have the same right to marriage as their heterosexual counterparts, and denying them that right is a violation of the rights protected by Articles 14, 19, and 21 of Part III of the Constitution, and upheld by various Supreme Court judgements…”
In addition, the bench gave notice on another petition asking for recognition of same-sex marriages pending before the Delhi High Court.
As of November 25, the Supreme Court had issued notice on a petition by two gay couples seeking recognition of same-sex marriage under the Special Marriage Act, 1954.
