The hopes of the LGBTQ community in India were dashed on Tuesday(17th of October, 2023) after India's top court rejected to legalise same-sex marriage.
The court said the final decision is left to the parliament to make, in an accord with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government that the legislature is the right forum to rule on the contentious issue.
The unanimous verdict by a five-judge bench came as a big disappointment to the large LGBTQ community in the country, five years after the court scrapped a colonial-era ban on gay sex.
The report said that there was no immediate response from the government to the court ruling but Modi's nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) administration had opposed petitions to the court on the issue, saying same-sex marriage is not "comparable with the Indian family unit concept of a husband, a wife and children".
The court decision came in response to more than a dozen petitions filed since last year. The bench, headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, heard arguments in April and May and pronounced its verdict on Tuesday.
Chandrachud said there was a degree of "agreement and a degree of disagreement on how far we have to go" on same-sex marriage, adding that four of the five judges had written separate judgements, reflecting the complexity of the case.
"This court cannot make law. It can only interpret it and give effect to it," Chandrachud said, while also rejecting the government argument that being gay is "urban or elite".
The court left it to a panel suggested by the government to address "human concerns" of same-sex couples.
It said the panel should include experts with knowledge and experience in dealing with the social, psychological and emotional needs of people belonging to the gay community.
The panel should also consider giving same-sex couples access to services and facilities such as joint accounts in banks and pensions, from which they are currently barred.
Chandrachud and a second judge referred to recognising unions or civil unions of same-sex couples but the other three judges did not agree.
"Marriage is a social institution. The marital status is not conferred by the state," said Ravindra Bhat, one of the three other judges. "The idea of marriage is not a fundamental right."
Source: Reuter
印度最高法院駁回同性婚姻，LGBTQ族群的希望破滅
印度最高法院駁回同性婚姻合法化令，印度 LGBTQ 群體的希望在周二（2023 年 10 月 17 日）破滅
法院表示，最終決定由議會做出，與總理莫迪政府一致認為，立法機關是就這一有爭議問題做出裁決的正確論壇。
五名法官的一致裁決令該國龐大的 LGBTQ 群體感到非常失望，五年前，法院廢除了殖民時代對同性性行為的禁令。
報道稱，政府沒有立即對法院的裁決做出回應，但莫迪的民族主義印度人民黨（BJP）政府反對就該問題向法院提出請願，稱同性婚姻「不能與印度家庭單位相提並論」。丈夫、妻子和孩子的概念」。
法院的這項決定是對去年以來提交的十幾份請願書的回應。 法官席由首席大法官 D.Y. 領導。 Chandrachud 在四月和五月聽取了辯論，並於週二宣布了判決。
錢德拉楚德表示，在同性婚姻問題上， “對於我們必須走多遠，存在一定程度的共識和一定程度的分歧”，並補充說，五名法官中有四人分別撰寫了判決書，反映了案件的複雜性。
錢德拉楚德說：「這個法院不能製定法律。它只能解釋法律並使其生效。」同時他也駁斥了政府關於同性戀是「城市或精英」的論點。
法院將其交給政府建議的一個小組來解決同性伴侶的「人類問題」。
報告稱，該小組應包括在處理同性戀群體的社會、心理和情感需求方面擁有知識和經驗的專家。
該小組還應考慮讓同性伴侶獲得目前被禁止的銀行和退休金聯合帳戶等服務和設施。
錢德拉楚德和另一位法官提到承認同性伴侶的結合或民事結合，但其他三名法官不同意。
「婚姻是一種社會制度。婚姻狀況不是由國家授予的，」另外三名法官之一拉文德拉·巴特說。 “婚姻的觀念不是一項基本權利。”
Comments