Opposing the pleas in Delhi High Court seeking to consider same sex marriages under a special marriage act the Centre in its affidavit in Delhi Court has said that there is a “larger legislative framework” that considers marriages only between a female and a male only.
“Personal laws recognise only sheteronormative marriages. Interference in this would cause havoc,” said the Centre in its affidavit.
It also said that marriage is not a private thing but a social thing which has its social importance.
“Despite the decriminalisation of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Petitioners cannot claim a fundamental right for same-sex marriage,” and this decriminalisation of 377, “applies to aspects which would be covered within the personal private domain of individuals [akin to the right to privacy] and cannot include the public right in the nature of recognition of same-sex marriage and thereby legitimizing a particular human conduct” Centre mentioned in the affidavit.
The development comes after Four people belonging to the LGBT cast filed their petitions on Thursday in Delhi High Court for considering the same sex marriages under the Special Marriage Act (SMA).
This petition is an addition to other three petitions already pending in the court that also south to recognize the same sex marriages under Hindu Marriage Act (HMA), Foreign Marriage Act (FMA) and Special Marriage Act (SMA).
The four petitioners have filed their pleas under the lawyers Tahira from Karanjawala, Meghna Mishra and a co law firm. They have also sought that if the SMA requires marriage between a female and a male then marriages should also be declared unconstitutional until they call it as “neautral to gender identity and sexual orientation”.
Centre in its response said, “By and large the institution of marriage has a sanctity attached to it and in major parts of the country, it is regarded as a sacrament. In our country, despite statutory recognition of the relationship of marriage between a biological man and a biological woman, marriage necessarily depends upon age-old customs, rituals, practices, cultural ethos and societal values.”
It also said that marriages between a male and female is solemnized to give the relationship a formal character.
