Weeks before the Supreme Court’s scheduled hearing of the marriage equality petitions, a group of retired High Court judges have written a letter opposing the pleas for marriage equality. In the letter dated March 24, they have claimed that legalising same-sex marriage “might lead to an exponential rise in the number of HIV-affected” and it will “strike at the very root of the family system”. The letter has been undersigned by 21 judges, led by Justice SN Dhingra, retired judge of the Delhi High Court.
The Supreme Court, on March 13, transferred a batch of petitions seeking marriage equality for LGBTQIA+ persons to a Constitution Bench of five judges. They will be heard on April 18. The group of judges who call themselves “conscientious and concerned citizens of India” have said that they are “exasperated and agonised over the continuous onslaught against the basic tenets of Bharatiya marriage traditions and family system by vested interest groups”. Recalling that a Constitution Bench will be hearing the case, they said that the people of India were “deeply shocked by this western-tinted outlook that is being superimposed on Bharatiya society and culture to weaken the family system”.
They also said that this move will have repercussions on the marriage and family system, and will have a devastating effect on the society. Stating that marriage in India was a socio-religious sacramental union between two families, they said that the purpose of marriage was not confined only to physical intimacy of partners, and will lead to “significant population decline”.
Stating that the gene pool will be weakened in the long run, and affect the “entire human race”, the judges have said that legalising same-sex marriage will be a “death knell” to the family system and will have a devastating impact on children, family, and society.
They also claimed that same-sex marriages might lead to an exponential rise in the number of HIV cases. Stating that it was important to take lessons from places that have legalised same-sex marriages, especially America, they pointed to official figures published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the HIV Surveillance Report, for 2019 and 2020. “It has been reported that 70% of new HIV-AIDS incidence in the country was amongst the gay and bisexual men. Therefore, legalising same-sex marriage might lead to an exponential rise in the number of HIV-affected. Giving priority to right to choice and personal liberty over right to life may cause severe consequences in the future,” they said.
The letter said there were studies that showed legalising same-sex marriage will have negative consequences over the children adopted by such couples, including their emotional and psychological development as well as on their “nurturing in an environment devoid of balanced parenthood”. “Same-sex marriage undercuts the procreative norm associated with marriage,” they added.
However, when this was brought up during the hearing at the apex court on March 13, Chief Justice of India DY Chandracud responded with, “Adopted child of a gay or lesbian couple does not have to be gay or lesbian.”
“Indian cultural civilization has constantly been attacked for centuries but survived against all odds. Now in independent India it is facing attacks on its cultural roots by the superimposition of western thoughts, philosophies and practices which are not viable for this nation at all. The cancerous problems that the West is facing are sought to be imported into Bharat by vested interest groups through the misuse of judiciary as an institution in the name of right to choice,” the letter said.
Stating that there was no “vociferous demand” from any section of society for legalisation of same-sex marriages, they said that a “hasty judicial intervention” was unfortunate and unwarranted. They also said that the exercise of law-making was an exclusive domain of the legislature and not the judiciary, especially in matters exclusively within social and political domain.
The judges said that the issue must be debated in the Parliament and State legislature before a law is brought and the opinion of the society must be obtained to ensure that the law must represent its wish and “not fulfil the desire of few elite sections.” “We thus respectfully urge the conscious members of the society Including those who are pursuing the Issue of same-sex marriage in Supreme Court to refrain from doing so in the best interest of Indian society and culture,” they said.
Earlier, the Union government also filed a counter affidavit opposing the legalisation, saying that the plea for the same was “wholly unsustainable, untenable and misplaced”.