HC seeks Centre's reply to plea for live streaming of proceedings on same sex marriage petitions

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Tuesday directed the Centre to respond to a plea by LGBTQ couples who are seeking live streaming of proceedings on a batch of petitions to recognise same-sex marriages under the special, Hindu and foreign marriage laws on the ground that the matter is of great national and Constitutional importance.

The high court also issued notices on three more fresh petitions by same-sex couples seeking recognition of their marriages, taking the total number of such pleas to eight.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh granted time to the Centre's counsel to take instructions on the matter and file replies on the three fresh petitions and the application for live streaming of proceedings. It listed the matter for further hearing on February 3.

The court was hearing a batch of petitions filed by several same-sex couples, seeking a declaration recognising their marriages under the special, Hindu and foreign marriage laws.

Out of the three fresh petitions, the petitioners in two pleas were represented through senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi.

One of the two petitions was filed by two lesbians who have already solemnised their marriage at Varanasi in February 2018 and are seeking recognition of marriage. The other one was filed by a transgender person who has undergone a sex reassignment surgery and entered into a civil union with her husband in South Africa and seeks recognition of the marriage.

The application for live streaming of proceedings was filed in the pending petition of Abhijit Iyer Mitra by Akhilesh Godi, Prasad Raj Dandekar and Shripad Ranade, residents of Karnataka and Mumbai.

It sought direction to the high court registry to make arrangements to live stream the final arguments of this case via YouTube or any other

platform.

Senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, representing the applicants, submitted that in view of the rights involved, live streaming of proceedings is essential as it concerns seven to eight per cent of the total population of the country.

He further said it is a matter of great national and Constitutional importance and live streaming can host a larger population.