New Delhi, Oct 17: Constitution Bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud delivered  judgement in the Same Sex Marriage case on Tuesday..

Supreme Court refused to give marriage equality rights to the LGBTQIA+ community in India.

There were four judgements in this case – by CJI DY Chandrachud, by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, by Justice Ravindra Bhat, and by Justice PS Narasimha.

SC left the judgement on changing law on same-sex marriage up to Parliament.

Soon after the judgement was announced, there has been disappointment among the people of this community.

SC Top Quotes on Same-sex marriage judgement

• No legal recolonisation, rules Supreme Court by 3-2
• “There is no unqualified right to marriage except as it recognised under the law. Conferring legal status to civil union can only be through enacted law. Transsexual persons in homosexual relationships have the right to marry” says the Supreme Court on same-sex marriage
• “I recognise that there are multifarious interpretative difficulties in reading the SMA to include marriage between non-heterosexual relationships,” says Justice SK Kaul
• “SMA (Special Marriage Act) provides a secular framework for solemnization and registration of marriage. I respectfully disagree with my brother Justice Bhat that the sole intention of SMA was to enable marriage of heterosexual couples exclusively. To my mind, the stated objective of SMA was not to regulate marriages on the basis of sexual orientation,” says Justice SK Kaul in Supreme Court’s verdict on same-sex marriage.
• Queer persons have right to choose partners, State cannot be obligated to recognise rights flowing from such union: Justice Bhat
• Justice Bhat says he disagrees with the CJI DY Chandrachud on the right of queer couples to adopt a child and raises certain concerns on the matter.
• Justice Ravindra Bhat said, “The Court can’t put the State under any obligation when there is no constitutional right to marry or legal recognition of unions among non-heterosexual couples.”

• “Contrary to what is stated in the judgment of Justice Bhat, the directions in my judgment do not require the State to create a social or legal status, or a social institution. The directions are with a view to recognising the choice that a person makes for themself when they choose another to be their partner for life. The directions seeks to make that choice a meaningful one; nowhere do they create an institution of any kind. Rather they give effect to the Fundamental Rights in Part 3 of the Constitution,” says CJI DY Chandrachud

• Non-heterosexual and heterosexual unions must be seen as both sides of same coin: Justice SK Kaul
• Justice S K Kaul agrees with CJI on grant of certain rights to queer couples
• Court records SG Tushar Mehta’s statement that Centre will form panel to decide rights, entitlements of persons in queer unions: CJI
• Queer is a natural phenomenon known for ages, it is neither urban nor elitist, says CJI Chandrachud
• CJI directs police to conduct preliminary enquiry before registering FIR against queer couple over their relationship
• States, UTs to ensure that inter-sex children are not allowed sex-change operation at age when they cannot fully comprehend consequence: CJI
• Centre, States and Union Territories to ensure queer community is not discriminated against, CJI Chandrachud
• CJI says material benefits/ services given to heterosexual couples & denied to queer couples will be a violation of their fundamental rights.
• This court has recognised that equality demands that queer persons are not discriminated against, says CJI Chandrachud
• All persons, including those queer, have right to judge moral quality of their lives: CJI Chandrachud
• Ability to choose life partner goes to root of right to life and liberty under Article 21, says CJI Chandrachud
• Whether there is need for change in regime of Special Marriage Act is for Parliament to decide: CJI Chandrachud
• It would be incorrect to state that marriage is a static and unchanging institution, says CJI Chandrachud
• To imagine queer as existing only in urban spaces would be like erasing them, queerness can be regardless of one’s caste or class: CJI
• This court can’t make law. It can only interpret it and give effect to it, says CJI Chandrachud
• CJI D Y Chandrachud says there are four separate judgements in the matter
• SC commences pronouncement of verdict on 21 petitions seeking legal validation for same-sex marriage

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