Plea filed before Delhi HC to declare that Special Marriage Act applies to same-sex couples

A petition has been filed before the Delhi High Court seeking a declaration that the Special Marriage Act, 1954 ought to apply to all couples regardless of their gender identity and sexual orientation. (Dr Kavita Arora vs UOI).The petition has asserted that the Special Marriage Act, 1954 is unconstitutional insofar as it does not provide for solemnization of marriage between a same-sex couple. .The petition has been preferred by a same-sex couple of eight years..Earlier this year, the couple had approached the Marriage Officer i.e SDM, South East Delhi, Kalkaji seeking solemnization of their marriage under the Special Marriage Act, 1954. .However, their right to marry a person of their choice was denied to them on grounds of their sexual orientation alone. ."Without marriage, the Petitioners are strangers in law. Articles 21 of the Constitution of India protects the right to marry a person of one’s choice: this right applies with full force to same-sex couples, just as it does to opposite-sex couples.", the Petitioners assert. .The Petitioners have argued that such a denial amounts to violation of Articles, 14, 15, 19 and 21 of the Constitution. .Our legal system, values do not recognise same-sex marriage: SG Tushar Mehta tells Delhi HC.Relying on Shakti Vahini vs. Union of India and Ors, the Petitioners have submitted that choice of an individual is an inextricable part of dignity and thus choice of a partner lied within the exclusive domain of each individual..Stating that constitutional morality trumps social morality, the Petitioners have added,.The choice of a partner forms the essence of personal liberty and dignity under the Constitution... those who choose a same-sex partner in the sense that society may disapprove of inter-caste and interreligious marriages but the Courts have a constitutional mandate for enforcing constitutional rights..Nothing unnatural about it; Supreme Court decriminalises Gay Sex, reads down Section 377 IPC.In view of the above and the Supreme Court's judgement in Navtej Singh Johar, the Petitioners have contended that there is no rational basis for the discrimination against same-sex couples.."..there is no reasonable, much less an intelligible differentia in the classification of same-sex and opposite-sex marriages in the context of a secular legislation governing solemnization of marriage.".The petition is filed through Advocate Arundhati Katju and Surabhi Dhar..FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT.Apart from the challenge to the Special Marriage Act, a petition has also been filed to declare that the Foreign Marriage Act, 1969 ought to be read to apply to same- sex marriages and is unconstitutional to the extent it does not do so. (Vaibhav Jain & Anr vs UOI).This petition has also been preferred by two gay men who got married in Washington D.C, United States. When they sought to register their marriage with the Indian consulate at New York, their application was refused on grounds of their sexual orientation..In line with the contentions raised in the challenge to the Special Marriage Act, the petitioners herein have argued that non-recognition of same-sex marriages was a wanton act of discrimination which struck at the root of dignity and self-fulfilment of LGBTQ couples..The petition was taken up by a Single Judge Bench of Justice Navin Chawla, who directed that the petitions be placed before a Divison Bench on October 14. .Senior Advocate Menaka Guruswamy appeared for the petitioners. .Read the Petitions: