Sewa Nyay Utthan Foundation members have filed an intervention application before Delhi High Court against registration of same sex marriages under Hindu Marriage Act. The plea will be heard on February 3, 2022.
The petitioners, Sanjeev Newar and Swati Goel Sharma of an organisation named Sewa Nyay Utthan Foundation, stated in the petition that Hindu Marriage Act is derived from dharmic texts which allow marriages only between a man and woman.
The petition added, “Therefore, the registration of same-sex marriages should be allowed only under secular laws like Special Marriage Act.”
This intervention application was filed in a pending case before the High Court. The matter was heard by a division bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh. The bench has posted the matter for February 3 to hear the matter along with other similar petitions together.
The plea pointed out that the Hindu Marriage Act is directly derived from Hindu Dharmic texts like the Vedas and Upanishads, where a marriage is defined as only being allowed between a ‘biological male’ and ‘biological female’.
“As per Vedas (the sourcebook of Hinduism), marriage happens only between a male and a female to fulfill certain worldly and religious duties. In fact, most Veda Mantras recited during Hindu Vivaah or describing the ritual of marriage refer to a biological male and a biological female. This has been the practice since times immemorial across almost all Hindu sampradayas without any variation in essence,” said the plea.
Any attempt to tinker with the Hindu Marriage Act in a way that it affects the age-old harmless beliefs of Hindus will be a direct intrusion by a secular State into the religious rights of Hindus, the petitioner stated.
The petition further added, “Same-sex marriages should either be registered under secular laws like the Special Marriage Act or under all religious laws like the Muslim Marriage Law and the Sikhs’ Anand Marriage Act. It must be made religion-neutral.”
“The petitioners have stated no objection if such marriages are registered under acts other than Hindu Marriage Act such as Special Marriage Act and Foreign Marriage Act. If it must be registered under Hindu Marriage Act, it must happen for all religions,” the plea stated.
The petitioners went on to add, “Before allowing registration of same-sex marriages for Hindus who have a more than 10,000 year history, it must begin with newer faiths such as Muslims (1400 years old), Christians (2000 year old), Parsi (2500 year old),”
