oppn parties Same-Sex Marriages Must Be Accorded Legal Sanction

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  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
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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'.