India’s Supreme Court Judgement on Same-Sex Marriage
The Indian Supreme Court in a historic determination refrained from ruling in favour of ‘same-sex’ marriages, stating that amending the ‘Special Marriage Act’ is the ambit of the legislature.
The determination on October 17th by the five-judge bench led by India’s Chief Justice, D. Y. Chandrachud?sought however, to give legitimacy to those identifying as LGBT+ by asserting that they should not face governmental discrimination, thus, allowing for engagement in relationships without fear of the law and repercussions of it; with necessary steps to be taken to safeguard against discrimination and harassment and also to find relief in respect of obstacles faced.
To this end, the Court endorsed the idea of forming a panel to explore the possibility of granting certain rights to same-sex couples.
The determination emerged 05 years after, the Supreme Court decriminalized a 160-year-old law banning homosexuality as being sex “against the order of nature”.
In the Asian region, Taiwan has legislated for same-sex unions, whilst in Nepal marriage equality has been recognized by judicial pronouncement since June this year.
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