Supreme Court Passes Ball on Legalising Same Sex Marriage; Rahul Gandhi Cites Amit Shah's Son, Jay Shah, as Dynast

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A newsletter from The Wire | Founded by MK Venu, Seema Chishti, Siddharth Varadarajan, Sushant Singh, Sidharth Bhatia and Tanweer Alam | Contributing writer: Kalrav Joshi, with additional inputs by Anirudh SK | Editor: Pratik Kanjilal

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Snapshot of the day

October 17, 2023

Pratik Kanjilal

The Supreme Court is divided on the question of legalising gay marriage, but agrees that it can be accorded sanction only by Parliament, because issuing new laws is beyond the remit of the courts. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud however said that “the state must recognise queer unions, even without marriage, and provide legal safeguards and rights to them.” He also said, “It would be incorrect to state that marriage is a static and unchanging institution.” Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul agreed with him on this count, but three other judges on the bench – Justices Ravindra Bhat, Hima Kohli and P.S. Narasimha – did not. The bench confined the case to the Special Marriage Act 1954 and clarified that it would not deal with the Hindu Marriage Act or personal laws. 

The petitioners are understandably upset. “It’s full of sound and fury signifying