Kerala's 1st Gay Couple Who Got Married In A Temple Move High Court To Get Marriage Registered

Nikesh and Sonu, the first married gay couple from Kerala who got married in 2019 have now filed a petition in the Kerala High Court seeking to legally register their marriage.

In their petition, they argued that the refusal to register homosexual marriages under the Special Marriage Act 1954 violates the principles of equality, non-arbitrariness, non-discrimination, individual dignity and personal autonomy under Articles 14, 15(1), 19(1)(a) and 21 of the Constitution of India.

Justice Anu Sivaraman admitted the writ petition filed by them and issued notices to the governments of Centre and Kerala.

Nikesh, a businessman and Sonu, an IT professional had met each other in May 2018 and fell in love. The couple who adhere to the Hindu faith wanted to get married in a temple as per Hindu rituals. But in July 2019 when they went to the Guruvayoor Temple the authorities there would not solemnize their marriage or issue a certificate. They were then forced to marry in a secret ceremony at the car parking area of the temple.

The petitioners cited the Supreme Court¡¯s 2018 judgment (Navtej Singh Johar Vs. Union of India), which recognized a person¡¯s right to sexual identity and to be treated with dignity for that identity. Any law that contradicts this disrespects individual choice, the SC judgment had concluded.

They also argued that exclusion from the institution of marriage denied them ordinary rights and privileges like right to maintenance, inheritance, joint bank accounts, lockers and the right to nominate each other in insurance, pension, gratuity etc.

¡°The institution of marriage affords certain rights and privileges to the persons in matrimony in the society and due to the aforesaid exclusion, the homosexual couples like the petitioners are denied an opportunity to enjoy similar rights and privileges. Being married carries along with it the right to maintenance, right of inheritance, a right to own joint bank accounts, lockers; nominate each other as a nominee in insurance, pension, gratuity papers etc. All these are unavailable to the Petitioners due to their exclusion from the institution of marriage, making the said exclusion more discriminatory,¡± the petition reads.

Though the Supreme Court had in 2018 scrapped Section 377 and decriminalized homosexuality the verdict stopped short of making gay marriages legal.

BCCL

Last year, a Supreme Court bench headed by the then Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi had dismissed a review petition seeking various civil rights, such as same-sex marriage, adoption and surrogacy for the LGBTQ community.

A bench said that it was not inclined to entertain the review plea seeking other reliefs. "We are not inclined to entertain this petition after the decision of this Court in Navtej Singh Johar v Union of India decided on September 6, 2018," said the bench, also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna.

BCCL

The plea had sought civil rights of the LGBTQ community as part of the basic human rights and said that these rights were not addressed in the apex court's judgment on Section 377. It had sought recognition of their rights to same-sex marriages, adoption, surrogacy, IVF and directions so that the community can serve openly in the army, navy and air force.