Plea In Delhi High Court Opposing Registration Of Same-Sex Marriages Under Hindu Marriage Act

An NGO has filed a plea in the Delhi High Court seeking that same-sex marriages should not be permitted under the Hindu Marriage Act as in Hinduism tying of nuptial knot is allowed only between a man and woman since times immemorial.

The petition filed by Sewa Nyaya Utthan Foundation argued that any changes such as inclusion of same sex marriage in the Customary Law are much easier, convenient and practical in marriages which are a type of contract between the partners as they are very remotely based on religion and more generic in nature.

¡°Marriages in societies like Hindu are very much part of their religion and derived and associated with their divine entities as well as religious texts and thereby hold significant sentimental values,¡± it said.

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What the plea says

The petitioners, Sanjeev Newar, Swati Goel Sharma through Advocate Shashank Shekhar Jha, stated that in the matter of recognition of same-sex marriage, the marriage either be registered under secular law like Special Marriage Act or must be allowed under all religious laws such as Muslim Marriage Law and Sikhs' Anand Marriage Act. It must be made religion-neutral.

Marriages under the Hindu Marriage Act as this Act is directly derived from Hindu dharmic texts such as Ved and Upanishads, where a marriage is defined as allowed between a biological male and a biological female only, the petitioners stated.

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They also added that they had no objection if such marriages are registered under acts other than the Hindu Marriage Act such as Special Marriage Act and Foreign Marriage Act. If it must be registered under Hindu Marriage Act, it must happen for all religions, said the plea.

Before the court decided in favour of same-sex marriages for Hindus, it must first consider the systems where the marriage is merely a 'civil contract' such as Nikah. The petitioners also state that before allowing registration of same-sex marriages for Hindus who have a more than 10 thousand-year history, it must begin with newer faiths such as Muslims (1400 years old), Christians (2000 years old), Parsi (2500 years old), the plea read.

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A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh has listed the application for February 3.

The plea has been filed in court despite the fact that same-sex marriages are still not legal in India.

Right to legally marry not recognised yet

Though Section 377, which criminalised same-sex relations in India was scrapped in 2018, India is yet to recognize their right to legally marry.

The Centre had earlier told Delhi High Court that the acceptance of the institution of marriage between two individuals of the same gender is neither recognized nor accepted in any uncodified personal laws or any codified statutory laws.

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Recently, the Delhi High Court had issued notice to the Central Government on an application seeking live streaming of proceedings on petitions for recognition of same-sex marriages under the special, Hindu and foreign marriage laws.

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