NEW DELHI : Hearing matter on same sex marriage, the Supreme Court on Thursday said that granting legal recognition to same-sex marriages falls within the domain of legislature but the Court’s objective in hearing the same-sex marriage case is to ensure that means are devised to grant same-sex couples social and other benefits and legal rights without the label of marriage.
Bench of SC headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, said “Once you recognise there is a right to cohabit.. and it may be symptomatic of a sustained relationship.. and once you say that right to cohabit a fundamental right, then it is the obligation of the state that all social impact of the cohabitation has a legal recognition.. we are not going into marriage at all,” the CJI said.
The CJI questioned what the government intends to do with regard to cohabitory relationships and how it plans to create a sense of security and social welfare for such relationships. The CJI further emphasized the importance of ensuring that people in such relationships are not ostracized.