‘NOT COMPARABLE TO INDIAN VALUES’: CENTRE ON SAME SEX MARRIAGE

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Thursday told the Delhi high court that living together as partners and having sexual relationship by same-sex couples was not comparable with the Indian family unit, and opposed same sex marriages in the country.

The Centre’s response was filed in the form of an affidavit. “While a marriage may be between two private individuals having a profound impact on their private lives, it cannot be relegated to merely a concept within the domain of privacy of an individual,” it said.

“Living together as partners and having sexual relationship by same sex individual is not comparable with Indian family unit concept of a husband, wife & children which necessarily presuppose a biological man as ‘husband’, a biological woman as ‘wife’ and children born out of union,” it said in the affidavit.

The Centre said that registration of marriage of same sex persons also results in violation of existing personal as well as codified law provisions.

“It is submitted that Parliament has designed and framed the marriage laws in the coun

try, which are governed by the personal laws/codified laws relatable to customs of various religious communities, to recognise only the union of a man and a woman to be capable of religious sanction, and thereby claim legal and statutory sanction. It is submitted that any interference with the same would cause a complete havoc with the delicate balance of personal laws in the country,” the Centre said in the affidavit. The government also said in samesex marriage, it is neither possible nor feasible to term one as husband and the other as wife. “Resultantly statutory scheme of many statutory enactments will become otiose,” it said.