Supreme Court to deliver judgment today on same-sex marriage

The Supreme Court is set to deliver today its verdict on whether same-sex marriages should be legally recognised in India. A Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, S Ravindra Bhat, Hima Kohli and PS Narasimha had reserved its verdict on the matter in May after hearing a batch of 20 petitions.

The petitioners had sought a declaration by the top court that the term “marriage” under the Special Marriage Act, 1954, would be read as between “spouse” instead of “man and woman".During the course of the hearing, the Supreme Court stated that it will confine itself to the issue of legal recognition for same-sex marriages under the Special Marriage Act and will not go into aspects regarding personal laws. Currently, same-sex marriage is legally recognised in 34 countries. Denmark was the first country in the world to offer official recognition to same-sex couples, allowing them to register as domestic partners.