Delhi High Court to hear petitions seeking recognition of same-sex marriage on May 17

The Delhi High Court on Thursday said that it would hear the batch of petitions demanding recognition of same-sex marriage on May 17. .A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla said that it will also decide whether the proceedings in the batch of petitions should be live-streamed or not. .The petitions were mentioned by lawyers appearing in related cases, highlighting their urgency and constitutional importance. Senior Advocates Menaka Guruswamy, Saurabh Kirpal, Neeraj Kishan Kaul and other advocates informed the Court that though the application for live-streaming of the proceedings was moved in November last year, the Central government is yet to file its response. They submitted that the matter is now largely covered in terms of the Supreme Court judgments in Puttaswamy and Navtej Johar, and therefore they will not take more than an hour to argue their cases. .The Bench directed the Central government to file its response to the application for live-streaming as well as a few petitions where no reply has been filed. In response to Kirpal's submission that if the Court rules in their favour on the issue of live-streaming, significant infrastructure will be needed, the Bench said that the High Court is effectively live-streaming its proceedings even today. Therefore, all it would need to do is find a way to keep people on mute. .The Central government had earlier opposed the petitions, stating that in spite of decriminalisation of homosexuality under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, there is no fundamental right of same-sex marriage. It said that seeking a declaration for the solemnisation or registration of marriage has more ramifications than simple legal recognition."Family issues are far beyond mere recognition and registration of marriage between persons belonging to the same gender. Living together as partners and having sexual relationship by same sex individuals [which is decriminalised now] is not comparable with the Indian family unit concept of a husband, a wife and children which necessarily presuppose a biological man as a 'husband', a biological woman as a 'wife' and the children born out of the union between the two," it was submitted..Same-sex marriage case: Delhi High Court issues notice to Centre on plea for live streaming of proceedings

Delhi High Court to hear petitions seeking recognition of same-sex marriage on May 17

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