News Reading Practice #18

(100 Day Challenge)



CANNOT LEGALISE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE, SAYS SC BENCH

A majority opinion of the five­-judge Constitution Bench says only the legislature can recognise such marriage, and courts cannot intervene; it adds there is no fundamental right to marry

Krishnadas Rajagopal NEW DELHI

A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday held that only the legislature can recognise or regulate same­-sex marriage. The Bench reasoned that since there was no fundamental or unqualified right to marry, the courts can not intervene.

However, the Bench failed to reach a consensus on providing even long abiding relationships between same-sex couples the status of a legally recognised “civil union”. This was despite all five judges on the Bench unanimously accepting that it was time to end discrimination against same-sex couples. Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, who became a minority on the Bench with Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, declared that queer people had a fundamental right to form relationships and the State was obligated to recognise and grant legal status to such unions, so that same-sex couples could avail themselves of the material benefits provided by law.

Justices S.R. Bhat and Hima Kohli, in their opinion, backed by a separate one by Justice P.S. Narasimha, to form the majority judgment, held that “an entitlement to legal recognition of the right to union — akin to marriage or civil union, or conferring legal status upon the parties to the relationship — can be only through enacted law”. 

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Legalize - നിയമാനുസൃതമാക്കുക.

Same-sex marriage - സ്വവര്‍ഗ്ഗ വിവാഹം

The legislature - പാര്‍ലമെന്റ് / നിയമനിര്‍മ്മാണ സഭ

Recognize - അംഗീകരിക്കുക.

Intervene - ഇടപെടുക.

Fundamental right - മൗലിക അവകാശം.

Regulate - വ്യവസ്ഥപ്പെടുത്തുക, നിയന്ത്രിക്കുക.

Reason - വാദിക്കുക, നിഗമനത്തിലെത്തുക, ന്യായ വാദം ചെയ്യുക.

Unqualified – നിരുപാധികമായ

Consensus - അഭ്യപ്രായ ഐക്യം, പൊതുസമ്മതം

Long abiding - ദീര്‍ഘകാലമായി നിലനില്‍ക്കുന്ന.

Recognized - അംഗീകരിക്കപ്പെട്ട, നിയമസാധുത്വം നല്‍കപ്പെട്ട

Discrimination – വിവേചനം

Queer people – LGBT വിഭാഗത്തില്‍ പെട്ടവര്‍

Obligated - കടപ്പെട്ട, ബാധ്യതയുള്ള

Avail - ഫലം ചെയ്യുക, ഉപകരിക്കുക, പ്രയോജനപ്പെടുക

Material - മുഖ്യമായ, സാരവത്തായ

Entitlement - അര്‍ഹതയുള്ള

Enact - നിയമം നിര്‍മ്മിക്കുക

Confer - നല്‍കുക

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