“While Supreme Court has shut one door, it has opened another door”: Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani on SC’s ‘Same Sex Marriage’ verdict

London [UK]: Senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP Mahesh Jethmalani said that Supreme Court has asking the Union Government to constitute a high-level committee to examine all issues pertaining to same-sex marriage.

“While it has shut one door, it has opened another door by asking the Union Government to constitute a high-level committee to examine all issues pertaining to same-sex marriage. It has opened the door,” he told media.

“They said – we do not have the power to do it, we will be trespassing on the jurisdiction of the legislature in the government. So, we are calling upon them to examine this issue,” he added.

“Supreme Court has said we don’t have the power to give you the right. It doesn’t flow from the Constitution. If the right to marry flows from the Constitution, then we could say that you have the right to marry as per the Constitution. So, if the right to marriage is not constitutionally guaranteed, then it can only be given to you only by a law.

The statute can only be passed by the legislature. So, they have said that the question of same-sex marriage requires legal recognition, and if it requires legal recognition, the only institution which can accord that recognition is Parliament and the Union Government,” he said.

A five-judge Constitution bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Tuesday ruled in a 3:2 verdict against giving constitutional validity to same-sex marriages. The top court said it is for Parliament to formulate legislation on it.

The bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, S Ravindra Bhat, Hima Kohli and PS Narasimha delivered the verdict it had reserved on May 11 this year.

Activists and those from the LGBTIQA+ community were hoping for a decision in their favour while there were some other activists who were rooting for the Supreme Court’s current verdict as according to them legalising same-sex marriage would have distorted the social fabric of the country.