The Centre on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that living together as partners and having sexual relationship by same-sex couple not comparable with Indian family unit. The Centre's response was filed in the form of an affidavit. Opposing same sex marriages, the Centre said, "While a marriage may be between two private individuals having a profound impact on their private lives, it cannot be relegated to merely a concept within the domain of privacy of an individual." "Living together as partners & having sexual relationship by same sex individual is not comparable with Indian family unit concept of a husband, wife & children which necessarily presuppose a biological man as 'husband', a biological woman as 'wife' and children born out of union," it further said in a affidavit.
The Centre said that registration of marriage of same sex persons also results in violation of existing personal as well as codified law provisions. "It is submitted that the Parliament has designed and framed the marriage laws in the country, which are governed by the personal laws/codified laws relatable to customs of various religious communities, to recognise only the union of a man and a woman to be capable of religious sanction, and thereby claim legal and statutory sanction. It is submitted that any interference with the same would cause a complete havoc with the delicate balance of personal laws in the country," the Centre said in the affidavit. The government also said that in same-sex marriage, it is neither possible nor feasible to term one as husband and the other one as wife. "Resultantly the statutory scheme of many statutory enactments will become otiose," it said. The Centre's affidavit was filed in response to the high court notice on a petition seeking legal recognition of same-sex marriages. The plea has contended that the Hindu Marriage Act does not distinguish between heterosexual and homosexual marriages if one were to go by how it is worded. It added the Act very clearly states that marriage can be solemnised between “any two Hindus”. The PIL seeking the recognition of same-sex marriages under the Hindu Marriage Act has been filed by Abhijit Iyer Mitra and three others. The Court last year observed that the statute is gender neutral and the Centre must interpret the law in favour of citizens of India.