The Supreme Court is hearing on a batch of petitions seeking recognition of same-sex marriage in India. The Supreme Court is hearing on a batch of petitions seeking recognition of same-sex marriage in India. The Supreme Court is hearing on a batch of petitions seeking recognition of same-sex marriage in India. The Supreme Court Constitution Bench on Wednesday said that the central government was wrong to term the idea of same-sex marriage as an "urban elitist" concept. "It may be more urban in its manifestations because more people in urban areas are coming out of the closet," the top court said during the second day of hearing on a batch of petitions seeking recognition of same-sex marriage in India.
The Centre on Tuesday filed its application in which it said that the demand for same-sex marriage is a "mere urban elitist view for the purpose of social acceptance", and recognising the right of same-sex marriage would mean a virtual judicial rewriting of an entire branch of law. The Centre also insisted on its preliminary objection on whether the court can at all go into this question.
During the hearing on Wednesday, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for petitioners, told the top court that there is a discriminatory denial of the right to marry based on ascriptive characteristics of sexual orientation and gender identity and stated that the application filed by the Centre doesn't have any data, survey or statistics to show anything on that.
To this, CJI DY Chandrachud said, "And when you say that homosexuality is an innate characteristic, it is also an argument in response to the contention that this is very elitist or urban or it has a certain class bias. Something which is innate cannot have a class bias. It may be more urban in its manifestations because more people in urban areas are coming out of the closet. There is no data coming out of the government that this is urban or something. No data at all."
Adding to Singhvi's submission, senior advocate KV Vishwanathan told the bench that his client, Zainab Patel, who was disowned by her family, begged on the streets and has now risen to become the Director of KPMG. "For her to be branded an urban elitist shows an absolute lack of grace," Vishwanathan said.
The SC said that the state cannot discriminate against an individual on the basis of sexual characteristics over which the person has no control.
At the start of the day's hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, filed a fresh affidavit urging the bench that all states and Union Territories be made parties to the proceedings as any decision on the issue without obtaining their views will render the present "adversarial exercise" incomplete and truncated.
(With inputs from agencies)