Plea for review of same-sex marriages verdict in Supreme Court

CJI Chandrachud said “I have not gone through the petition yet. Please circulate it.”

The Chief Justice said he would take a call after seeing it.

Last month, the five-judge bench presided by CJI Chandrachud had said it cannot tweak the Special Marriage Act (SMA) of 1954 to give legal recognition to same-sex marriages. The top court had said it could only be done by the legislature and that any attempt by the court to do so would amount to encroaching upon the field set for the legislature.

The review petition says the ruling “suffers from errors apparent on the face of the record and is self-contradictory and manifestly unjust”.

It said the “‘majority judgment’ is facially erroneous because it finds that the Respondents (authorities ) are violating the Petitioners’ fundamental rights through discrimination, and yet fails to enjoin the discrimination”.

“For example, the Majority Judgment holds that the Respondents’ characterisation of “marriage for various collateral and intersectional purposes as a permanent and binding legal relationship . .. between heterosexual couples only (and no others) impacts queer couples adversely,” and “has an adverse discriminatory impact” by wrongly depriving them of marriage-related benefits”, the plea said.

It added that the ruling “recognises that, while heterosexual relationships have “the benefit of the cover of the law” which “afford(s) protection, and extend(s) benefits ” the same “eludes those living in non-heterosexual unions” and “the impact, therefore, is discriminatory.”