A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday said it cannot grant legal recognition to same-sex marriages, with Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud saying making such a law is the Parliament's domain.
Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, S. Ravindra Bhat and P.S. Narasimha and Hima Kohli were also part of the five-judge bench. Here are the key quotes by the apex court judges while announcing the verdict.
- Homosexuality is not an urban or elitist concept. To imagine queer as existing only in urban spaces would be like erasing them, queerness can be regardless of one’s caste or class
- It would be incorrect to state that marriage is a static and unchanging institution
- The court cannot make law. It can only interpret it and give effect to it
- Striking down Special Marriage Act section 4 will take country to pre-Indpendence era. Can't hold Special Marriage Act unconstitutional just because it doesn't recognize same-sex marriages
- All persons, including those queer, have right to judge moral quality of their lives. Cannot assume only heterosexual couples can be good parents as it would amount to discrimination against queer couples
- The right to enter into a union includes the right to select one’s partner and have that choice acknowledged. The failure to acknowledge such unions is deemed discriminatory
- Equality demands queer persons and couples aren't discriminated and all benefits flowing to the heterosexual couples from the State must also flow to queer couples.
- They should not be forced to return to their natal family if they don’t want to,
- Non-heterosexual and heterosexual unions must be seen as both sides of same coin. Legal recognition of non-heterosexual unions is a step towards marriage equality. Non-heterosexual unions are entitled to protection under the Constitution.
- Principle of equality demands all people have the right to unions irrespective of sex, gender or orientation. State cannot be obligated to recognise rights flowing from such union
