Indian court declines to legalise same-sex marriage. The highest court in India declared on Tuesday that the parliament, not the court, has the power to legalize same-sex marriages.
The court explained the situation by stating that parliament has the authority to enact laws, such as those that would legalize same-sex marriages.
A five-judge panel led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud reached the decision after hearing arguments that were presented in April and May of this year.
He later made the announcement on Tuesday.
As he started reading his order, Chandrachud noted that there was some “agreement and disagreement on how far we have to go” regarding same-sex marriages.
Furthermore, Chandrachud was supported by two of the other four judges, giving him a majority in the decision not to allow same-sex unions to be recognized by the court.
Two additional judges have not yet commented on the matter, according to Reuters.
The court decision comes five years after a landmark 2018 decision in which the Supreme Court overturned a prohibition on gay sex from the colonial era.
As Indian court declines to legalise same-sex marriage, in Asia, where largely conservative values still dominate politics and society, only Taiwan and Nepal permit same-sex unions.
The petitions were rejected by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which referred to them as “urban elitist views” and claimed that parliament was the proper forum for discussion and legislation on the subject.
t had also said that such marriages are not “comparable with the Indian family unit concept of a husband, a wife, and children”.
