NEW DELHI, Jan 9: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed review petitions seeking a review of its October, 2023 judgement that refused to legalise same-sex marriage.
A new five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice B.R. Gavai and comprising Justices Surya Kant, B.V. Nagarathna, P.S. Narasimha and Dipankar Datta dismissed the petitions.
“We have carefully gone through the judgments delivered by Justices S. Ravindra Bhat (former judge) speaking for himself and for Hima Kohli (former judge) as well as the concurring opinion expressed by one of us (Justice PS Narasimha), constituting majority view.
“We do not find any error apparent on the face of the record. We further find that the view expressed in both the judgments is in accordance with law and as such, no interference is warranted. Accordingly, the review petitions are dismissed,” the five-judge Review Bench held in a short order.
The review petitions had argued that the apex court verdict compelled queer couples, who wish for the joys of a real family, to remain in the closet and lead dishonest lives.
The judgment, while acknowledging that queer partners suffer from the indignity of discrimination in their everyday lives, had denied them any judicial relief, choosing to leave the community at the mercy of government policy and legislative wisdom.
(Manas Dasgupta)
