The Supreme Court on Friday transferred to itself the batch of petitions seeking recognition of same-sex marriage in India. The matter was listed before a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice PS Narasimha . The bench also provided liberty to petitioners to appear on virtual platform and advance their submissions in case they are unable to engage a counsel or travel to Delhi. The batch of petitions is now listed for 13th March 2023.
At the outset, the counsels apprised the bench of the fact that other than the main petition, there were several petitions which were to be transferred to the Supreme Court as they had been pending before diverse high courts including the High Court of Delhi, the High Court of Gujarat, and the High Court of Kerala. CJI Chandrachud, while dictating the order stated–
“Since several petitions are pending before diverse high courts on the same subject, we direct to transfer all petitions before this court. To obviate any difficulty to a petitioner who cannot engage a counsel or travel to Delhi, all the petitioners are provided liberty to appear on virtual platform and advance their submissions. Link to be provided to any who ask for the same. Notice to be issued to central agencies. Counter affidavits to be filed by 15th Feb 2023. List for directions on March 13th.”
The bench also appointed Advocate Arundhati Katju on behalf of petitioners and Advocate Kanu Agarwal on behalf of Union of India as nodal counsels and requested them to prepare compilation of precedents, documents, and legislations on the matter.
The batch included a PIL filed by Supriyo Chakraborty and Abhay Dang. They have been a couple for almost 10 years and they recently had a commitment ceremony in December 2021, where their relationship was blessed by their parents, family and friends. Now, they seek that their marriage be recognized under the Special Marriage Act. The batch of PILs also include one filed by Parth Phiroze Mehrotra and Uday Raj Anand who have been in a relationship with each other for the last 17 years. They claim that they are presently raising two children together, but since they cannot legally solemnize their marriage, it has resulted in a situation where both Petitioners cannot have a legal relationship of parent and child with both their children. Another same-sex couple – an Indian national and a Citizen of the United States of America (USA), who married and registered their marriage in the USA in 2014 and now seek to register their marriage under the Foreign Marriage Act, 1969 had also filed a PIL. Two other petitions seeking transfer to the Supreme Court from the Delhi High Court and the Kerala High Court were also in the batch of petitions.
Case Title: SUPRIYO @ SUPRIYA CHAKRABORTY AND ANR. v. UNION OF INDIA| W.P.(C) No. 1011/2022 PIL-W; KAVITA ARORA AND ANR. v. UNION OF INDIA AND ANR; ADITI ANAND AND ANR. v. UNION OF INDIA; VAIBHAV JAIN AND ANR. v. UNION OF INDIA AND ANR; NITIN KARANI AND ANR. v. UNION OF INDIA AND ANR.
