Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud on Monday said that he stands by his minority judgement in favour of civil unions of ‘same-sex couples’, as sometimes it is a “vote of the conscience and a vote of the constitution”.
“I do believe it is sometimes a vote of conscience and a vote of the Constitution. And I stand by what I said,” Chandrahud said.
The CJI was speaking at the 3rd Comparative Constitutional Law discussion on the topic ‘Perspectives from the Supreme Courts of India and the United States’ at Georgetown University, Washington.
“By the unanimous verdict of all the five judges on the bench, we came to the conclusion that while we have progressed a great deal in terms of decriminalising homosexuality and recognising people belonging to the queer community as equal participants in our society, legislating on the right to marry is something that falls within the domain of Parliament,” the CJI further said.
On differing with the three other judges on the Constitution bench on the issue of civil unions and the adoption rights of ‘queer couples’, Chandrachud said, “But three of my colleagues felt that recognising a right to form unions was again beyond the traditional domain and that it must be left to Parliament.”
He added that three of his colleagues also felt that the absence of recognition of the right to adopt by ‘queer unions’ was discriminatory but that is something that had to be addressed by Parliament.
