NEW DELHI: A same sex couple has moved the Delhi High Court seeking permission to get married under the Special Marriage Act. The couple, in their plea, said that they have been living together as a couple for 8 years but unable to marry as they are both women.
A similar plea has been moved by two men, who got married in the United States, but their marriage was not registered under the Foreign Marriage Act of 1969 by the Indian consulate as they were a same sex couple.
Both the petitions came up for hearing before Justice Navin Chawla who directed the registry to list them before the bench of the Chief Justice which is already hearing a PIL seeking a declaration that same sex marriages be recognised under the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA) and Special Marriage Act (SMA).
The two women, aged 47 years and 36 years have said that simple things—like opening a joint bank account, buying family health insurance, or securing address proof—which a married couple takes for granted are a struggle for them.
“Marriage is not just a relationship... it is also a bundle of rights. Without marriage, the petitioners are strangers in law. rticle 21 of the Constitution of India protects the right to marry a person of one’s choice and this right applies with full force to same-sex couples, just as it does to opposite-sex couples,” they have contended in their plea.
The women are part of the team that built north India’s leading clinic specializing in mental health and learning disabilities for children and young adults.
(With PTI inputs)