Halt Same Sex Hearings Says Bar Council India, Supporting Centre

The Bar Council India (BCI) met with the State Bar Councils on April 23, 2023, to halt same sex hearings. This resolution passed by the BCI after a meeting with the State Bar Councils concluded that legislative hearings should take over this matter owing to its sensitivity.

Allowing for same-sex marriages or marriage equality in India is believed to alter the fundamental structure of marriage in a society that might lead to various religious sentiments getting hurt owing to India's secular structure.

Halt Same Sex Hearings: Centre Has Its Way

Last week the Supreme Court sat for three days hearing the same-sex petitions that were filed. The Centre opposed this hearing on the first day itself, framing the concept of same-sex marriages as an 'urban elite concept'.

The BCI supported the Centre when it said that same-sex hearings should only be presided over by the Centre owing to the sensitivity of the issue and the impact it could have on people hailing from different cultures in India. The BCI conveyed that any decision made by the Supreme Court regarding queer marriages in India might prove harmful to Indian society as a whole.

The BCI further added that queer relationships are considered by certain socio-religious communities in India as a social experiment and one that brings shame.

Therefore, since the issue of same-sex marriage has a diverse set of stakeholders, it warranted a lengthy consultation taking into consideration the views of all these stakeholders at a different forum before any decision is reached.

Supporting the Centre the BCI promulgated its views of marriage being a union between a biological man and a woman arguing that overhauling this concept by any court of law wasn't acceptable.

The resolution by the BCI has requested the Supreme Court to halt same-sex hearings. What remains to be seen is whether the Supreme Court lends its ears to such arguments or if it proceeds with hearing the same-sex petitions that have been filed.

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