Justice Bhat: are you truly representing the people before us? There is diversity. There may be unheard voices who may want to preserve their way of life. They may not want to break their traditions.
Justice Bhat: we don't believe Parliament is going to enact anything.
Guruswamy: I don't believe that either my lord.
Guruswamy: There is no denying that milord. But It will follow.
CJI Chandrachud: The SMA carved out an exception, by being neutral to religion. But Section 21(A) of SMA, indicates that all other parts of marriage are governed by personal law.
There is no denying the link between SMA and personal law.
Justice Bhat : If we read into the SMA, there will have to be changes in other personal laws as well. There is no shying away from this.
CJI Chandrachud: The jurisprudence of Art. 21 are established, you need not get into that.
Justice Kaul: Getting into the nitty gritty, it is a difficult exercise to create different rights.
Justice Bhat :Coming to the task of re-enacting other laws. How many times are we to play follow up? Where does it stop? Is this our job? Ultimately that's the question we come back to.
Guruswamy: The basic structure also belongs to us. We are also part of its soul. The parliament cannot be the reason to exclude us from this guarantee under the constitution.
Guruswamy:
My lords have been the north star in many cases, pre the legislature walking the talk. We dont ask for anything special today. We are only asking for a workable interpretation of the Special Marriage Act.
CJI Chandrachud: the counsel who follow you should also address us on this.