Categories: World

Supreme Court of India refuses to legalize same-sex marriage

close Video

Fox News Flash top headlines for October 16

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what’s clicking on Foxnews.com.

India’s highest court refuses to legalize same-sex marriage, claiming it is not their responsibility. 

The Supreme Court of India declined to pass a ruling on the issue, arguing that it was beyond their scope and needed to be taken to Parliament. 

“This court can’t make law. It can only interpret it and give effect to it,” Chief Justice Dhananjaya Chandrachud said.

INDIAN AND CANADIAN OFFICIALS IN DIPLOMATIC DIALOGUE AMID SIKH LEADER ASSASSINATION CONTROVERSY

Journalists gather at the courtyard of the Supreme Court of India in New Delhi ahead of India’s top court ruling on same-sex marriages. LGTBQ campaigners hoped for an overhaul of partnerships in the world’s most populous nation. (SAJJAD HUSSAIN/Sajjad HUSSAIN/AFP via Getty Images)

Same-sex marriage remains a contentious issue in Indian politics, where conservative social norms clash with international progressive movements.

The court’s decline leaves activists largely out of options — both the legislative and executive branches of the Indian government are functionally opposed to same-sex marriage.

“Today the court has reaffirmed that queer citizens will be relegated to an unsympathetic legislature and an apathetic executive. We are second-class citizens, no matter how many judicial platitudes say otherwise. We will rise in rage and protest,” said Rohin Bhatt, a lawyer on the case.

ARRESTS MADE IN CONNECTION TO MOSQUE ATTACK TARGETING ANTI-INDIA MILITANT IN PAKISTAN

Members of the LGTBQ community follow the live hearing of India’s Supreme Court on same-sex marriages on a smartphone at the courtyard of India’s top court in New Delhi. (SAJJAD HUSSAIN/Sajjad HUSSAIN/AFP via Getty Images)

The five justices of the court were intensely divided on the issue, and four separate legal opinions were prepared, according to reports.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has vocally opposed same-sex marriage in India.

The government has previously stated that gay marriage is not “comparable with the Indian family unit concept of a husband, a wife and children.”

A view of the Supreme Court of India in New Delhi. (Photo by Sanjeev Verma/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Indian nationalists have also characterized homosexual unions as an “urban” and “elite” phenomenon of the West.

The Supreme Court legalized homosexuality in 2018 by striking down a ban originally instituted under British colonial rule. 

Before the ruling, gay sex was punishable with up to a decade behind bars.

Timothy Nerozzi is a writer for Fox News Digital. You can follow him on Twitter @timothynerozzi and can email him at timothy.nerozzi@fox.com

Share

Recent Posts

Washington girl, 4, ‘dragged’ by coyote just inches from door amid string of alarming encounters: report

close Video Coyote caught chilling out in front yard in rare security camera footage A…

1 hour ago

Missing Connecticut girl found alive 25 years after kidnapping with help from DNA testing

close Video New Haven police find missing girl in Mexico after she was abducted in…

1 hour ago

US military shoots down Houthi drones as Trump’s strikes against terrorist group continue

close Video Houthi drones shot down by U.S. forces, senior official says Fox News correspondent…

3 hours ago

Report: Jewish Tesla owner ‘speechless’ after Jewish Musk-hater finger-traces swastika on his Cybertruck

close Video Environmental Progress founder rips Tesla vandals: 'Democrats are really lost' Michael Shellenberger, founder…

3 hours ago

Man set on fire in heart of New York City’s Times Square, suspect at large: report

close Video NYPD searching for suspect who lit man on fire in Times Square A…

3 hours ago

Trump thanks El Salvador for taking in alleged gang members deported from US: ‘We will not forget’

President Donald Trump thanked El Salvador on Sunday after the country's president shared dramatic video…

4 hours ago