Keywords
Marital Rights
Personal Laws
Same-sex Couples
How to Cite
Abstract
Personal laws are governed mainly by religious scriptures; since they are related, any variations initiated by the parliament or judiciary are hair-triggering. There are numerous concerns revolving around personal laws and its implication in the present era concerning individual autonomy. One such concern is the individual autonomy of same-sex couples and their marital rights, such as the right to adoption, succession, maintenance, and divorce, among others. It has been a couple of years since the Supreme Court of India recognized and legalized the consensual sex between same-sex couples in the case of Navtej Singh Johar & Ors. v. Union of India. But the rate of acceptance of these couples to live a dignified life in a society is low to none because of the lack of proper rule implementation mechanism. Also, same-sex couples often have to migrate to foreign countries recognizing same-sex marriages to get married and get a legal status of their relationship. The paper will discuss the fundamental rights and the contradicting values vis-a-vis the personal laws concerning the recognition of same-sex couples. The paper will further deal with the loopholes in the current personal laws and suggest frameworks/guidelines to include the different aspects of the marital rights of same-sex couples in the existing legal framework of India.
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