Same-Sex Marriage/Marriage Equality- Supreme Court Hearing- LIVE UPDATES - DAY 8

Dwivedi: My thrust is that there is no equality. Don't make a declaration that the marriage...

Justice Bhat: In other words you're saying there is a right to marry. But there's no right to marry outside law.

CJI DY Chandrachud: Once you say that marriage is a sacrament, you have to accept that marriage as a sacrament traces its origin to A 25.

CJI DY Chandrachud: We said that right to life does not owe its existence to the constitution. It's a recognition by the constitution. Thus, the power to suspend 21 will not suspend right to life.

Justice Bhat: That can be said for anything else. It's not that we didn't exist as society and constitution switched us on.

CJI DY Chandrachud: That's the basis on which we overruled ADM Jabalpur in Puttaswamy.

Dwivedi: It doesn't depend on that. Your lordships may find its continuance there.

CJI DY Chandrachud: First thing we learn in Hindu law is marriage is not merely a matter of contract but sacrament. Once you accept that, it's a sacrament which is also impressed with a constitutional character.

CJI DY Chandrachud: The moment you say that it is not just a matter of mere contract but there is an element of sacrament- it is again a fundamental precept of our law. 

Dwivedi: Why do all religions, even though they are in conflict with each other, they all regard homosexual relations as a sin!

Justice Kohli: So when you talk of right to marriage- Marriage in any case transcends the constitution. It is not looking for sanctity within constitution having pre-dated it by several centuries.

Dwivedi: I have a strong criticism of Justice Kennedy, Prof Nussbaum. They treat marriage as a pure and simple contract. It's not that. It's the most sacred phenomenon. And not confined to humans but to other species.