Recognition of same-sex marriage: Delhi High Court transfers over half a dozen pleas to Supreme Court

The Delhi High Court on Monday transferred more than half a dozen petitions seeking the recognition of same-sex marriage to the Supreme Court [Abhijit Iyer Mitra v. Union Of India]..A Bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad passed the order after being informed that the Supreme Court had sought transfer of pleas on the issue filed before all High Courts to itself. .An order to this effect was passed by the top court earlier this month. It stated, "Since several batches of petitions are pending before Delhi, Kerala and Gujarat High Courts involving the same question, we are of the view that they should be transferred and decided by this Court. We direct that all writ petitions shall stand transferred to this Court.".The matter will be heard by the apex court on March 13, after written submissions and counters are filed by all parties. .The apex court is hearing a batch of petitions, one of which was filed by Supriyo Chakraborty and Abhay Dang, two gay men living in Hyderabad seeking that the right to marry a person of one’s choice should extend to LGBTQIA+ citizens as well.Supriyo and Abhay have been a couple for almost 10 years. They both contracted COVID-19 during the second wave of the pandemic and when they recovered, they decided to have a wedding-cum-commitment ceremony to celebrate the ninth anniversary of their relationship.However, despite the same, they do not enjoy the rights of a married couple, the plea pointed out..Another petition filed by gay couple Parth Phiroze Mehrotra and Uday Raj said that non-recognition of same-sex marriages is violative of the right to quality under Article 14 and the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution.Subsequently, more petitions were filed on the issue including transfer petitions to transfer cases from High Courts to the top court.