The fight for marriage equality in India has taken a huge step forward!
According to a report from Hindustan Times, the Delhi High Court has brought three pleas concerning marriage equality to the Centre.
Currently, the Hindu Marriage Act, the Special Marriage Act, and the Foreign Marriage Act doesn’t recognize same-sex marriage.
Defense Analyst Abhijit is one of the individuals from the three presented cases and also created the latest petition for marriage equality in India.
The plea states: “The non-recognition of the rights of gay couples, especially when their sexuality has been recognized as such as valid by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India is violative of various provisions of the Constitution of India as well as various provisions of the Constitution of India as well as various conventions that India as a sovereign state is a signatory to.”
“The denial of this right to homosexual couples is also against the mandate of various international conventions that India is a signatory to.
“Finally the eponymous Golden Rule of Interpretation also states that plain 7 meaning has to be imparted to words in a statute unless such interpretation were to lead to an absurdity.”
The fight for marriage equality comes two years after the country decriminalized homosexuality.
In 2018 the high court made history by putting an end to its 146-year-old law known as Section 377, which banned gay relationships.
Before this monumental case, the punishment for being in a same-sex relationship was up to 10-years in prison.
“The law had become a weapon for harassment for the LGBT community,” said Chief Justice Dipak Misra.
The Centre now has four weeks to give its reply to the petition.
Related: Indian state takes major step forward in recognising transgender rights.