‘How to grant social benefits to same-sex couples’, SC asks Centre

The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday asked the Centre to find a way to give same-sex couples basic social benefits, like joint bank accounts or nominating a partner in insurance policies, even without legal recognition of their marital status. A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud observed that when the court says recognition it need not be recognized as marriage, it may mean recognition which entitles them to certain benefits, and the association of two people need not be equated to marriage. The apex court appeared to accept that legal sanction for same-sex marriage is under Parliament’s domain. The bench told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, that once you say that right to cohabit is a fundamental right, then it is the obligation of the state that all social impact of the cohabitation has a legal recognition, and the court is not going into marriage at all.