On 25 February, a hearing of equal rights petition under the Hindu Marriage Act and the Special Marriage Act took place in the Delhi High Court. A bench of Justices Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and Amit Bansal sought the Centre’s argument on the petition.
In response, the centre said that "only man and woman can make a family". Submitting an affidavit, the government clarified that a family unit in India presupposes a biological woman as ‘wife,’ a biological man as ‘husband,’ and children born out of the union between the two.
Requesting for a dismissal of the petition by the court, the centre also said that the power to govern human relationships lies only in the "competent legislature" which has the "legislative wisdom to enact a law."
It claimed that any judicial interference in the matter will result in "complete havoc". The affidavit used the Supreme Courts judgement on the article 377 as precedent since it just decriminalised a particular behaviour but didn't legitimise the LGTBQ+ unions.
The statements have led to a range of reactions. Many users on Twitter have been calling out the government’s hypocrisy on the matter by using references of ancient Hindu texts to justify the age-old tradition of same sex marriages.
Member of Parliament Mahua Moitra called out the government on this, along with comedian Vir Das sharing a clip from his Netflix Special on the issue.
Check out the reactions here:
In 2018, the Supreme Court had decriminalised section 377 of the constitution in a landmark judgment.
Same-sex marriages are increasingly being recognised in majority of countries in the world. Denmark was the first to do so in 1989.
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