Supreme Court refuses to grant legal sanction to same-sex marriages

Same-sex marriage will not be allowed by law, according to a five-judge Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on Tuesday.
Queer couples do not have an unconditional right to marriage, according to the Constitution Bench, which also included Justices S.K. Kaul, S.R. Bhat, Hima Kohli, and P.S. Narasimha.

In order to determine the rights and social entitlements of same-sex couples, it requested that the Union government form a powerful commission headed by the Cabinet Secretary.

According to the Supreme Court, judges can only interpret the law; they cannot create it. It rejected the petitioners' argument that the Special Marriage Act (SMA) should replace any references to "man" and "woman" with "person" and that any use of the terms "husband" and "wife" should be changed to "spouse" to make it gender neutral.

The Hindu Marriage Act, Foreign Marriage Act, Special Marriage Act, and other marriage laws were being challenged in a number of petitions before the Constitution Bench on the grounds that they forbid same-sex marriage or, conversely, that these provisions should be interpreted broadly to allow for same-sex marriage.