The Supreme Court of India has begun hearing arguments on the legalisation of same-sex marriage. The highest court’s five-judge constitution bench heard a slew of petitions on what it terms a “seminal” issue of significant importance.
The federal government has opposed homosexual marriage rights, arguing that the issue should be resolved by Parliament rather than the courts. The central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi maintained that deciding on issues involving human connections, including as marriage, is “essentially a legislative function.”
In 2018, India decriminalised homosexuality, although the LGBTQ community has yet to be granted family rights.
The court proceedings will start shortly and will be closely watched globally that’s because if the Supreme Court rules in favour of marriage equality then India will become the world’s largest democracy to do so.
According to Pew Research, more than 30 countries across the globe have legalised same-sex marriage so far.
Petitions over for today, resume tomorrow
The judicial hearing on petitions on same-sex marriage was over on Tuesday and will begin tomorrow with the address of Mukul Rohatgi for around 30 more minutes.
‘When you deny me the right of marriage, you deny me citizenship’ Mukul Rohatgi
Giving sharp comments on denial of marriage to LGBTQ community, Mukul Rohatgi said that denial of the right of marriage, means denial of citizenship. When citizenship is denied, it indicates that the person is of no good and not equal to a citizen under preamble.
“When you deny me the right of marriage, you deny me citizenship. If you deny me citizenship, you are saying you’re no good, you’re not equal to a citizen under preamble so you stay where you are,” he said.