oppn parties Same-Sex Marriages Must Be Accorded Legal Sanction

News Snippets

  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
oppn parties
Same-Sex Marriages Must Be Accorded Legal Sanction

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2022-12-22 04:03:04

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

Is India ready to legalize marriage between same-sex couples? There are two parallel things happening in this matter. The Supreme Court has taken up the plea by two same-sex couples who have asked for the State to legalize their union as not doing so violates their Constitutional rights. It has sought reply from the Centre. On the other hand, the matter was raised by BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi in Parliament. Modi argued that courts should not be allowed to decide on the matter and Parliament should debate and pass a law against same-sex marriages as such marriages, if allowed, would disturb the "delicate balance" of personal laws.

There is no doubt that legalizing same-sex marriages will need a huge shift in thinking in society. Indian society, steeped in patriarchy, is still not ready to accept that a marriage can be for any other purpose than for the woman to bear children for the family. It is not yet ready to accept something that goes against what has been considered as 'perfect' and accepted down the ages. It has not accepted homosexuality even though it was decriminalized in 2018 and same-sex couples are still subjected to harassment and ridicule.

But since homosexuality has been decriminalized and same-sex couples can, theoretically and legally, stay together, the next logical step is to legally recognize their union and grant them all rights enjoyed by opposite-sex couples. That is their fundamental and Constitutional right. If the delicate balance of personal laws will be disturbed in granting same-sex couples this right, as Sushil Modi said, so be it. For, social morality which comes in the way of progressive legislation has to go. The government will have to suitably alter all laws (for example adoption and inheritance laws) to factor in same-sex marriages. Society has to change its view and come out of the patriarchal and conservative mindset. It has to accept that it cannot deny fundamental rights to persons just because their sexual orientation is different from the majority or what is considered 'socially correct'.