After decriminalizing sexual relations between adults of the same sex in 2018, India may soon allow same-sex couples to marry. And concern is mounting within the government in place.
Uhistorical measure to come? On November 25, the Supreme Court asked the Indian government for its arguments to justify ban on same-sex marriage. At the origin of this request, the requests of two couples of men: Supriyo Chakraborty and Abhay Dang, Parth Phiroze Mehrotra and Uday Raj. The first couple held a ceremony to celebrate their love in December 2021, but the effects of that wedding stop at an exchange of vows and wedding rings, reports The Print. Nothing in the current law allows them to assert their union.
For the second pair, it’s not just about marriage, but also of filiation. Together for seventeen years, Parth Phiroze Mehrotra and Uday Raj have held on “in happiness and in hardship, in health and in sickness, in good and in bad” as any marriage requires. . For them, marriage would allow them both to exercise their parental rights over their two children. Faced with these requests, the Government had until January 6 to provide a clear answer to the Supreme Court, which will then have to rule, relates RFI.
“In reality, Indian culture is that of everyone”
Back in power since 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a right-wing Hindu nationalist party, is firmly opposed to this legislative development. “Same-sex marriage would be a disaster for the delicate balance of civil law in our country, especially with regard to families, children and their education,” said Sushil Modi, a BJP parliamentarian, taken up by until.
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In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that the criminalization of sexual relations between consenting adults of the same sex was contrary to the Indian Constitution. In August 2022, she recognized that same-sex parents should have the same rights as everyone else. “The argument that the hetero-patriarchal system is a foundation of Indian culture is a pretext to exclude all those who escape this norm, believes Karuna Nundy, lawyer at the Supreme Court, with Arte. In reality, Indian culture is that of everyone.” If the law were to recognize marriage for same-sex couples, India would become the second asian country to move in this direction after Taiwan in 2019. To reach this historic decision for the island, it is also the Supreme Court of the country which had ruled.