The Supreme Court has refused to reconsider giving legal recognition to gay marriage. The court has rejected the review petitions filed in this regard. In its decision given on 17 October 2023, the Supreme Court had refused to give legal recognition to gay marriage. A demand was made to reconsider that decision from the Supreme Court. But the bench of 5 judges has accepted that the decision was correct.
A bench of 5 judges headed by Supreme Court Justice BR Gavai saw it in a closed chamber as per the rules laid down for review petitions. If the judges felt that there was a legal flaw in the earlier decision or that some important questions were not answered in that decision, then they would have directed to put it up for hearing in the open court. But the judges did not feel the need for a re-hearing.
The names of the four judges who were included in the bench along with Justice Gavai are Justice Surya Kant, BV Nagarathna, PS Narasimha and Dipankar Dutta. Of these, Justice Narasimha is the only judge who was a member of the 5-judge bench that will give the verdict in 2023. The remaining 4 member judges of that bench have now retired.
In the decision on which 13 petitions were filed demanding reconsideration, it was said that marriage is not a fundamental right. Homosexuals also have the right to choose their partner and live with him, but the government cannot be ordered to give their relationship the status of marriage or to give legal recognition in any other way. If the government wishes, it can form a committee to consider the concerns of such couples. The court had accepted that this subject falls within the jurisdiction of the government and the MP. The court had also made it clear that gay couples cannot adopt a child.
