Same-sex marriage SC hearing Day 2 LIVE Updates: ‘Heart of this case is Right to Choose,’ Singhvi
- Same-sex amrriage case: The crucial case will decide the fate of marital and allied rights for lesbian and gay couples in the 1.4 billion-democratic country.
Supreme Court has begun the Day 2 hearing arguments for granting legal recognition to same-sex marriages on Wednesday. The crucial case will decide the fate of marital and allied rights for lesbian and gay couples in the 1.4 billion-democratic country.
It’s unclear how long the Supreme Court will take to decide the case, which addresses what it’s called a “seminal” issue of great importance.
The bench, also comprising Justices S K Kaul, S R Bhat, Hima Kohli and P S Narasimha, commenced hearing for the second day on the batch of pleas seeking legal validation for same-sex marriage.
The Centre today urged the Court that all states and Union Territories be made parties to the proceedings on the pleas seeking legal validation for same-sex marriages.
Catch all the LIVE updates on Livemint:
-Court hearing will resume after lunch break
-'Marriage equality will remove next brick of exclusion,' Singhvi
“LGBT+ people need protection from both the State as well as non-state actors," and added marriage equality will remove the next brick of exclusion, reducing the stigma around the community.
-Heart of this case is 'Right to Choose': Singhvi
Senior advocate Sighvi in his argument said that the heart of the same-sex marriage case is the 'right to choose' and the 'heart of the matter is marital relationship...regardless of gender or gender identity".
"Navtej was momentous and it was little done in vast undone and this case is significantly done. This case is removing the next brick of discrimination," he added.
-Singhvi says, 'will finish by tomorrow lunch time' ; CJI asks to 'wrap it by today'
‘I will not repeat 95% of submissions made by Mr Rohatgi. I will finish by tomorrow lunch time,’ Singhvi said.
-Rohatgi wraps up his arguments, Abhishek Manu Singhvi speaks
Lawyer Rohatgi wrapped up his arguments in the hearing of same-sex marriage in the Supreme Court. Senior advocate AM Singhvi begins his submissions in the case.
-Nobody can deny full and equal citizenship: Rohatgi
" If a man's fundamental right is affected he has a right to come to this court. Nobody can deny full and equal citizenship- it can't be sans marriage, sans family, sans the respect of marriage, and we'll forever be treated as those people".
- Rights being clouded by the majority: Rohatgi on same-sex marriage recognition
Mukul Rohatgi added, "32 itself is a fundamental right. If I have a right and that right is being clouded by the majority or by the state accepting the majority as correct, I have a right to come to this court and this court will fail its duty if it fails to remedy it & says go to parliament. Sometimes the law takes the lead, and sometimes society takes the lead. The power, jurisdiction, obligation, and responsibility of this court are only cast on this court. Even the HC doesn't have that power. If one man's fundamental right is affected, he has a right to come to this court".
- For hundreds of years, homosexuality depicted on walls for thousands of years: Rohatgi
“If you go back to Indian texts, hundreds of years, these acts (homosexuality) were depicted on walls for thousands of years. That remained the concept of morality. Our morality was very different, far more advanced, not Victorian, not stereotyped, not stigmatised in this form! But then it changed. The British period was stuck because they made the laws. They conquered the land. Those laws were imposed on us. That is how the shifting sands of time changed us”.
-'Struggles won't end...but if we succeed,' Rohatgi on legalisation of same-sex marriage
Defending same-sex marriages in India, senior advocate Rohatgi stated, "I'm not saying that all struggles will end. But I'm saying that if we succeed we should get an explicit declaration. He said all consequences flowing from the registration of a marriage of a heterosexual couple must also flow to same-sex marriage.
-'US also conservative': Rohatgi
Rohatgi said that what India was during the Mughal era or British era, those laws or morals need to be imposed today".
He added, "In the US also, a large part of the society is also very conservative. In the recent past, they have gone back on abortions! It's not that they're very much ahead- the red necks as they're called. They're very conservative".
- Mukul Rohatgi's key remarks:
- Buried under majority: Rohatgi told the court, "We are being buried under the pressure of the majority...It is not the law but it is the mindset which is bothering us in daily life".
- Society accepts what the law is: Citing the example of the Widow Remarriage Act, he said, "We need to push the society to acknowledge us as equals in all respect because the constitution says so and the moral authority of this court is there. This court enjoys public confidence. The decrees will be violated if people do not have confidence. whether parliament follows the law or it does not, the society will follow the law laid down".
- Cannot stop annulling Sec 377: "This court cannot stop at annulling section 377 but grant us equal rights to marry like heterosexual couples so that we can live in a society with dignity," Rohatgi added.
- Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing the LGBTQ community responded to Mehta saying, "I am challenging a central law and merely because a subject is in the concurrent list it does mean states have to be joined.. insolvency was challenged before this court and that was in the concurrent list as well but states were not joined".
He added, "The letter was issued yesterday and notice was issued 5 months ago.. this could have been done earlier".
- Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Central govt said, "Before the petitioners start, I have placed one document on record. In continuation of my request that states be heard. Union of India has written to all Chief Secretaries that their views could be given"
-The government has filed a fresh affidavit before the apex court in the same-sex marriage case seeking directions to add all states and union territories as parties to the case. According to the Centre, any decision on the present issues without making States a party and without specifically obtaining their opinion on the present issue would render the present adversarial exercise incomplete and truncated.
-Centre tells SC it issued letter on April 18 to states inviting comments on seminal issue raised in pleas on same-sex marriages.
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Business NewsNewsIndiaSame-sex marriage SC hearing Day 2 LIVE Updates: ‘Heart of this case is Right to Choose,’ Singhvi
First Published:19 Apr 2023, 11:26 AM IST
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