New Delhi: The Constitution Bench hearing on same-sex marriages may conclude on the ninth day on Wednesday, as Chief Justice of India Chandrachud has only four lawyers remaining to argue, including senior advocate Arvind Datar and additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati.
The Bench will then have enough time of the Summer vacation to finalise the judgment.
Today's argument
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind, started in the pre-lunch session and took the entire afternoon. He said it doesn't expect Parliament pass this law and that is why this court should do it.
Justice Narasimha: When courts recognise and leave it.. then it is up to the legislature to take it ahead.
CJI: Did we not do with privacy? we recognised right to privacy.. but did not touch the law part and we left data privacy bill etc to the parliament.
CJI: Apart from the element of heterosexuality.. there will be other elements of the union which may have to be accepted by the state.. We are constitutional recognition of a relation which is short of marriage.. civic rights flowing.. then legislative recognition for the same..
Heterosexual marriage has stood the test of time because it has been accepted by all three levels. Society recognises that union. You do not need a Constitution for it frankly, Kapil Sibal argued, stressing that some issues can be resolved administratively. Justice Bhat stressed that Sibal was seeking a declaration on the existence of their sexual identity and the rest has to play out through social awareness and laws.
He submitted that the protection available to the minorities in a secular democracy should be available to sexual minorities. He said India is far more liberal in that sense unlike the US where gay people were not allowed in military, government jobs but not happening in India. He prayed that the court begin by recognising the sexual identity.
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