Same-Sex Marriage: Delhi HC Transfers Over Half-Dozen Petitions To Supreme Court

The Delhi High Court on Monday transferred more than a half-dozen petitions seeking recognition of same-sex marriage (Abhijit Iyer Mitra v. Union Of India).

The order was passed by a Bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad after being informed that the Supreme Court had requested transfer of all pleas on the issue filed before all High Courts to itself.

An order to this effect was passed by the Supreme court earlier this month. It said, “Because several batches of petitions involving the same question are pending before the Delhi, Kerala, and Gujarat High Courts, we believe they should be transferred and decided by this Court. We direct that all writ petitions be transferred to this Court.”

The case will be heard by the Supreme Court on March 13 after all parties have filed written submissions and counters.

The Supreme Court is hearing a batch of petitions, one of which was filed by Supriyo Chakraborty and Abhay Dang, two gay men living in Hyderabad, who want the right to marry whoever they want to include LGBTQIA+ citizens.

Supriyo and Abhay have been together for nearly ten years. They both contracted COVID-19 during the second wave of the pandemic, and when they recovered, they decided to hold a wedding-cum-commitment ceremony to commemorate their relationship’s ninth anniversary.

Despite this, they do not have the rights of a married couple, according to the petition.

Another petition, filed by gay couple Parth Phiroze Mehrotra and Uday Raj, claimed that non-recognition of same-sex marriages violates the right to quality under Article 14 and the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution.

Following that, more petitions on the issue were filed, including transfer petitions to transfer cases from High Courts to the Supreme Court.