On Thursday, a plea seeking review of the October 17 verdict refusing to accord legal recognition to ‘same-sex marriages’ was mentioned before the Supreme Court for an open court hearing.
A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra took note of the submissions of senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for one of the petitioners, that the review plea needed to be heard in open court to redress the grievances of those seeking validation of ‘same-sex marriages’.
“I have not examined the (review) petition. Let me circulate it (among judges of that constitution bench),” the CJI said.
Rohatgi said that all the judges of the constitution bench were of the view that there was some kind of discrimination against queer persons and hence they needed relief as well, .
In the first week of November, one of the petitioners had moved the apex court seeking a review of the October 17 judgement.
The constitution bench headed by the CJI had delivered four separate verdicts on a batch of petitions seeking legal recognition of ‘same-sex marraiges’. All five judges were unanimous in refusing to give legal backing to same-sex marriages under the Special Marriage Act. The top court, by a 3:2 majority, held that queer couples do not have the right of adoption.
