Cji chandrachud children

"We desire to see our children and our children-in-law find legal acceptance for their relationship under the Special Marriage Act in our country. We are certain that a nation as big as ours, which respects diversity and stands for the value of inclusion, will open its legal gates of marriage equality to our children too. We are growing old. Some of us will touch 80 soon. We hope that we get to see a legal stamp on the rainbow marriages of our children in our lifetime," the letter read. "From knowing about gender and sexuality, to understanding the lives of our children, to finally accepting their sexuality and their loved one - we have gone through the whole gamut of emotions. We empathise with those who are opposing Marriage Equality, because some of us were there too. It took us education, debate and patience with our LGBTQIA+ children to realise that their lives, their feelings and their desires are valid. Similarly, we hope that those who oppose Marriage Equality will come around too. We have faith in the people of India, the constitution and the democracy of our nation." The Central government had questioned the maintainability of a clutch of petitions that has demanded legal validation for same-sex marriages in India. It said that courts cannot rewrite an entire branch of law by recognising the right of same-sex marriage because “creation of a new social institution” is beyond the scope of judicial determination. The Centre maintained that the petitions before the c...

New Delhi: Sexual abuse of children remains a hidden problem as there is a culture of silence and therefore the state must encourage families to report abuse even where the perpetrator is a family member, Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said on Saturday. Speaking at a two-day national programme on the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the CJI said it is an unfortunate fact that the criminal justice system functions in a way that sometimes compounds the victims' trauma and the executive must therefore join hands with the judiciary to prevent this from happening. "The long-lasting implications of child sexual abuse make it imperative for the state and other stakeholders to create awareness regarding the prevention of child sexual abuse and its timely recognition and the remedy available in law. Children must be taught the difference between safe touch and unsafe touch. While this was previously couched as good touch and bad touch, child rights activists have urged parents to use the word safe and unsafe because the word good and bad have moral implications and may prevent them from reporting the abuse," Chief Justice Chandrachud said. "Above all, there is an urgent need to ensure that the so-called honour of the family is not prioritised above the best interest of the child." He said the state must encourage the families to report abuse even when the perpetrator is a family member," the Chief Justice added. "It is an unfortunate fact that the manner in w...

Over 400 parents of LGBTQIA+ children from a support group called Sweekar - The Rainbow Parents, have written an open letter to the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud seeking legal status for same-sex marriage in India. The group supports the parents to navigate the journey towards acceptance of their children’s sexuality, with the ultimate goal of achieving equality in marriage. While acknowledging that society is a changing and evolving phenomenon, the members of the support group emphasised that most of the parents in the group are growing old, and some of them will touch 80 soon. They desire to see the legal stamp on the rainbow marriages of their children in their lifetime, the open letter added.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday continued hearing arguments on same-sex marriage and deeming it equal to heterosexual marriages. A five-judge Constitution bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices SK Kaul, SR Bhat, Hima Kohli and PS Narasimha began hearing arguments for the ninth day on Wednesday. During the previous hearing on Tuesday, Kapil Sibal, who is appearing for Jamaat-Ulema-I-Hind seeking to recognise queer marriages, said that foreign judgements cannot be relied upon while delivering a verdict in the Indian context. He implied that the Constitution was a living document and that law has to evolve with the changing times. Singhvi: Right to marry, along with a scheme for its implementation, already exists. Petitioners are only asking for a non-discriminatory right to access that institution. Senior advocate Rohtagi tells the Bench that all he needs is some kind of declaration in the form of a document. Section 18(f) is in consideration. Singhvi: We not only seek a declaration of the right to marry but a right to marry under the Speical Marriage Act (SMA) by an interpretation of SMA, which will allow the solemnisation of non-heterosexual marriages. Singhvi reading from his written submissions Singhvi: There were laws passed by the legislature of the USA. One law said that male people below an IQ of x must be sterilised because you shouldn't have a society of idiots. That law was upheld. The second example was women should be barred from the legal pro...

Dr DY Chandrachud, Chief Justice of India, stated that negative preconceptions of women made it tougher for them to be recruited when he discussed the low number of women in the legal profession. He noted that for every 50,000 male enrolments in Tamil Nadu, there were only 5,000 women. These numbers were comparable across the nation. The CJI spoke at the ceremony to lay the foundation stone for additional court structures on the premises of the District Court in Madurai and to inaugurate the District and Sessions Court and Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Mayiladuthurai. According to Chandrachud, the pre-existing preconceptions that inhibited law chambers from recruiting young women lawyers were one of the reasons for such low representation. Chambers believed that women would be unable to work lengthy hours owing to their familial obligations. “We should understand that childbearing and child care is a choice and women should not be punished for taking up that responsibility. A young male lawyer might also choose to be involved in child and family care. But as society we force the responsibility on women and use it to deny them opportunity. If women want to balance family and career, it is our duty to provide institutional support.” CRECHE, SEXUAL HARASSMENT The establishment of creche facilities within courthouses across the country was one method of providing such institutional support. Citing the Delhi High Court as an example, the CJI asked all High Courts in India ...