After 10 days of marathon arguments, the Supreme Court on Thursday, May 11, reserved its verdict on petitions seeking legal validation of same-sex marriage. A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud reserved its judgment after hearing arguments from senior advocates AM Singhvi, Raju Ramachandran, KV Viswanathan, Anand Grover and Saurabh Kirpal on behalf of the petitioners; Attorney General R Venkataramani, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for the Centre and senior counsel Kapil Sibal for Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind. The Bench has already made it clear that it would not get into the personal laws of various religious communities and would only examine the Special Marriage Act, 1954, to consider the petitioners’ prayer.
The Centre, some of the states, certain Hindu, Muslim and Christian organisations have opposed the petitions. The governments of Assam, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan have the petitions, citing public opinion and adverse implications on the social and family system. On behalf of the Government of Madhya Pradesh, senior counsel Rakesh Dwivedi has opposed the petitions seeking recognition for same sex marriage.
The Bench is expected to deliver the verdict after the summer vacation.