The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) has supported pleas seeking legal recognition of same-sex marriages in India in Supreme Court by filing an intervening application.
According to a report by LiveLaw, the application contends that the DCPCR - a statutory body under the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005- will be able to assist the Supreme Court on the impact of same-sex marriages on children as they have a total of 15 years of collective experience in dealing with issues pertaining child rights.
What did the DCPCR say?
The application among other things, submits that from a psychological point of view, "multiple studies on same-sex parenting have demonstrated that same sex couples can be good parents, or not, in the same manner that heterosexual parents can be a good parent or not," the report said, while highlighting examples of more than 50 countries that allow same-sex couples to legally adopt children.
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Issuing directions to the central and state government, the DCPCR said that they must take steps to create public awareness that same-sex family units are as “normal” as heterosexual family units, and - specifically - that children belonging to the former are not “incomplete” in any way.
"Directions, specifically, to school boards and educational institutions that this normalisation be proactively undertaken specifically in classroom contexts where issues touching upon same-sex family units are brought up," the body also recommended, as per the report.
It further directed the relevant authorities "to set aside resources and create infrastructure for counselling and psychological assistance to children suffering from bullying or victimization on account of belonging to same-sex family units."
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Though homosexuality was decriminalised in 2018, same-sex marriages continue to be unacknowledged and unrecognised by Indian laws. Both the Government of India and ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have opposed any recognition to same-sex marriages.
Recently, the Union Government filed a counter-affidavit opposing judicial intervention to grant legal recognition for same-sex marriages.
