- SC asks govt committee to consider benefits which can be granted to such unions
New Delhi, Oct 17.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday did not accord legal recognition to same sex marriages and instead sent out a strong message to police and other authorities against subjecting same sex couples to discrimination, violence or any other coercive step such as invasive medical procedures to change their gender.
The top court asked the government to set up a committee to consider granting any other benefits to such unions. These could be enabling a partner to receive gratuity, pension etc of the other partner or signing as family in a medical emergency.
The court also asked the government to set up hotlines on which they can report harassment and violence.
Short of granting legal recognition or asking the government to accord such legal recognition to same sex unions, the top court sent a strong message to all authorities to allow them to exist with dignity without any discrimination or harassment.
Police were specifically asked not to either harass or call them to the police station or drop in at their homes to ask them questions.
Police authorities will not harass them if they have attained the age of majority and will not routinely summon them to the police station or visit them at homes at the behest of parents, the court said. Any FIR will be registered against them only after a preliminary enquiry shows a cognisable offence, it said.
A five-judge bench, led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, delivered a split verdict, with two of the judges, the Chief Justice of India and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, backing the right of such couples to adopt.
A majority of three – Justices Ravindra Bhatt, P.S. Narasimha, Hima Kohli – did not agree to give such unions the right to adopt children. They chose instead to back a formal law by the union government either by way of framing gender-neutral laws or a special law recognising such unions.
That will take time and much lobbying from the LGBT community in the corridors of power.
The top court had raised hopes of the LGBT community of granting them the right to marry and adopt like heterosexual couples, as a logical extension of an earlier judgement in which it had diluted Section 377, IPC, to decriminalise same sex adult sexual behaviour.
The CJI personally seemed inclined to grant these rights but seems to have eventually stuck to the principle of separation of powers to put the onus of making these changes in the law on the government.
The CJI was also clear that since single unmarried persons can adopt, those in such unions must also be allowed to do so. A majority on the bench also did not agree with his views to grant adoption rights to those in such unions.
The central government had vehemently opposed any move to accord legal legitimacy to such unions. It had cited the prevalent social ethos and norms to oppose the move.
