The Supreme Court collected and forwarded to itself all petitions concerning the legal recognition of same-sex marriages that were pending before various high courts across the nation.
A bench consisting of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala, and the Chief Justice requested that the Center submit a joint response to all related petitions by February 15 and ordered that all petitions be listed in March.
Supreme Court Transfers Same-Sex Marriage Petitions
The bench stated that any petitioner may use the virtual platform if they are unable to appear in person before the court. It asked that the petitioners' and the Center's legal representatives each submit a written note on the matter, including any relevant laws and precedents, and share it with the court.
The bench instructed the Center's attorney to make sure that no petitioner is overlooked and that all petitioners' information is included in the compilations that will be created.
As a petition is ready for hearing before the Delhi High Court, the top court has two options: it can wait for its decision or transfer all of the petitions to itself, according to Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.
The lawyers for numerous petitioners addressed the bench and requested that the Supreme Court take on all of the cases so that it could make a conclusive ruling on the matter and the Center could respond.
On January 3, the Supreme Court announced that it would hear arguments for transferring petitions for same-sex marriage recognition that were pending before high courts on January 6.
On December 14 of last year, the Supreme Court requested a response from the Center in response to two petitions asking that the cases pending in the Delhi High Court for directions to recognise same-sex marriages be transferred to the top court.
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Prior to that, on November 25, 2017, the apex court requested the central government's response to two separate petitions filed by two gay couples seeking the enforcement of their right to marry and an order compelling the authorities to register their marriage under the Special Marriage Act.
Consensual sex between adult homosexuals or heterosexuals in private spaces is not a crime, according to the top court's five-judge Constitution bench, which overturned a portion of the British-era penal code that criminalised it on the grounds that it violated the constitutional rights to equality and dignity. This ground-breaking, unanimous law was issued on September 6, 2018.
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