What Supreme Court said to request for open court hearing of same-sex marriage review petition

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to grant open court hearing in review petitions against its October 2023 verdict that refused to recognize the right of same-sex couples to enter into marriages or have civil unions..The matter was mentioned in this regard by Senior Advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud today."If these petitions can be heard in the open court," Kaul requested."Constitution bench review is not some.. you know this is in chambers," the CJI replied.The case is slated to be heard in-chambers by a CJI-led 5-judge bench on Wednesday at 1.30 pm..In November last year, Senior Counsel and former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi too had made an urgent mentioning seeking open-court hearing of the review petitions in the marriage equality case..A Constitution Bench led by the CJI and also comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, S Ravindra Bhat, Hima Kohli and PS Narasimha had on October 17, 2023 ruled against recognising same-sex marriages.The Court said that the law as it stands today does not recognise the right to marry or the right of same-sex couples to enter into civil unions, and that it is upto the parliament to make laws enabling the same.The Court also held that the law does not recognise rights of same-sex couples to adopt children.The majority opinion was delivered by Justices Bhat, Kohli and Narasimha with Justice Narasimha delivering a separate concurring opinion. CJI Chandrachud and Justice Kaul had delivered separate dissenting judgments..All the judges were unanimous in holding that there is no unqualified right to marriage and same-sex couples cannot claim that as a fundamental right.The Court also unanimously turned down the challenge to provisions of the Special Marriage Act.The majority of Justices Bhat, Kohli and Narasimha also held that civil unions between same sex couples are not recognised under law and they cannot claim right to adopt children either.However, CJI Chandrachud and Justice Kaul in their separate minority opinions had ruled that same-sex couples are entitled to recognise their relationships as civil union and can claim consequential benefits.In this regard, they had also said that such couples have the right to adopt children and had struck down adoption regulations to the extent it prevented the same.