Supriyo Chakraborty &Anr v.

s Union of India
*This case revolves around two same-sex couples, Supriyo Chakraborty and Abhay Dang, as well as Parth Phiroze
Merhotra and Uday Raj Anand, who filed writ petitions in the Supreme Court of India on November 14th, 2022.
They sought legal recognition of same-sex marriages in India, challenging Section 4(c) of the Special Marriage Act,
1954 (the Act), which only recognizes marriage between a 'male' and a 'female.

*The petitioners argued that this provision discriminates against same-sex couples by denying them various
matrimonial benefits, such as adoption, surrogacy, employment, and retirement benefits. They contended that the
non-recognition of same-sex marriage violates their rights to equality, freedom of expression, and dignity, citing
landmark cases such as NALSA vs. Union of India (2014) and Navtej Singh Johar vs. Union of India (2018), which
recognized non-binary gender identities and guaranteed equal rights to homosexual persons.

*The Supreme Court, comprising Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli, directed the Union to
respond to the petitions on November 25th, 2022. Subsequently, Senior Advocate Menaka Guruswamy and
Advocate Karuna Nundy urged a 2-Judge Bench to transfer similar petitions pending before the Delhi & Kerala
High Courts to the Supreme Court. The Bench, led by CJI Chandrachud and Justice P.S. Narasimha, agreed to list
the transfer petitions along with the main petition

*On January 6th, 2023, a 3-Judge Bench, comprising Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice P.S. Narasimha, and
Justice J.B. Pardiwala, transferred nine pending petitions dealing with similar issues from the Delhi and Kerala High
Courts to itself.

*The case was subsequently referred to a 5-Judge Constitution Bench, which began hearing the case on April 18th,
2023. After 10 days of hearings, the 5-Judge Bench reserved judgment.

* On October 17th, 2023, the 5-Judge Bench pronounced its verdict, unanimously holding that there was no
fundamental right to marry and that the Court could not recognize LGBTQIA+ persons' right to marry under the
Special Marriage Act.

*In short summary*

This is a case where two couples who are in same-sex relationships wanted the Supreme Court to allow them to
legally marry in India. They argued that a law from 1954 only allows marriage between a man and a woman, which
discriminates against them and denies them rights like adopting children or getting certain benefits. They said this
goes against their rights to equality and dignity. The Supreme Court asked the government to respond to their
arguments and eventually decided to hear their case. After several hearings, the Supreme Court said there's no basic
right to marry and that they couldn't change the law to allow same-sex marriage.