No one dying for not having marriage certificate, government tells court

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Monday adjourned the hearing on various petitions seeking legal recognition of same-sex couples to July 6 after the Centre opposed the idea of rushing into a debate on the matter amid the pandemic.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the bench of Justices Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and C Hari Shankar said it saw no ground for an urgent hearing. Seeking the adjournment, SG Tushar Mehta had said the court was hearing only extremely urgent cases while law officers were busy handling Covid-related and other matters. “Nobody is dying due to not having marriage certificates,” he said. Senior advocate Saurabh Kirpal, appearing for the petitioners, argued for the matter to be taken up expeditiously, possibly next week. He said members of the LGBT community being forced to suppress their feelings and desire to get married to partners of their choice was discriminatory.
The Centre’s position is that marriage between two individuals of the same gender was neither recognised nor accepted in any uncodified personal laws or codified statutory laws.