Same Sex Marriage- Supreme Court Constitution Bench Hearing-DAY-2- LIVE UPDATES

The bench has risen for the day.

Singhvi: The third pillar is dignity. Dignity is "to treat everyone with equal concern and respect" and not to send a message that any individual is worth less because of their ascriptive characteristics.

CJI DY Chandrachud: It is not so much as statutory silence as much as failure to enact a law.

Singhvi: More than failure to enact, they will not recognise.

Singhvi: The silence is being read in the counter and the stand of the government as a restriction.

Singhvi: If they can't do it for heterosexual couples because your lordships will undoubtedly hold it as an unreasonable restriction, how is it a reasonable restriction for me?

Singhvi: The projection of the gender identity, which is a part of free speech, is inhibited by your stand which allows that right unfettered in heterosexual category.

Singhvi: The right is being questioned on the ground that the rights heterosexuals have, non heterosexual couples do not have.

Singhvi: Third and the last prong is the dignity point under A 21. This is actually intersection of 14 with 19(1)(a)- the right to express one's gender identity is being questioned by the State without a law under 19(2).

Singhvi: Hypothetically, the very text of 19(2) doesn't make it easy to think of a law which can be made- it's a hypothetical argument made to show the contrast.

Singhvi: If a law was made, which part of 19(2) can be relatable to when the core values of Constitution your lordships is discussing.