'Same-sex marriage against Vedic culture': Swami Avdheshanand writes open letter to CJI

Swami Avdheshanand, a prominent Hindu leader, has posted an open letter to Chief Justice of India, Justice DY Chandrachud, on Twitter, expressing concerns against the prospects of legalising same sex marriage. In the letter, he argued allowing same-sex marriage would destroy the very foundation of Vedic beliefs, India's cultural practises and social development.

"India is not only a country of 146 crore people, but it is a heritage of ancient Vedic Sanatan religion-culture, tradition, and primitive human sensibilities, where marriage is a very sacred welfare ritual; that integrates men and women within family growth, the preservation of family values, and social responsibilities," he said.

He added that a law on homosexual marriage would prove to be harmful for human existence.

"Therefore, the legalisation of homosexual marriage will prove harmful for human existence by destroying the divine Vedic beliefs, cultural practises, and various methods of social development of the nation of India and causing severe anomalies in a country like India," he added.

“As far as the rights to live-in LGBTQ partners are concerned, perhaps there can be an “LGBTQ Partners’ Registry” or other institutional provisions to provide these rights to the LGBTQ community without interfering with the holy practice of marriage, as duly performed between a man and a woman," the letter further said.

On Thursday, a Hindu seer in Rajasthan said a favourable verdict on same-sex marriage will be a blot on humanity. He said the people of the country shouldn't accept such a verdict.

"This is our matter. The court should not get involved in this. Judges should be told that nature will punish such people. If there is such a decision by the court, then there is no need to accept it," Nischalanand Saraswati, the 145th Shankaracharya of the Govardhana Peetham, Puri, told mediapersons at the 'Guru Deeksha' programme at the Gopeshwar Mahadev Temple.

The Supreme Court has been hearing a bunch of pleas seeking recognition of same-sex marriage.

The SC said on Thursday that the acceptance of the right to cohabitation of same-sex partners as a fundamental right by the Centre casts a "corresponding duty" on it to recognise its social consequences. It asked the government to apprise it as to what can be done to grant social welfare benefits to them without going into legalising their marriage.

The SC, which is hearing arguments on a batch of pleas seeking legal sanction for same-sex marriages, indicated it might refer for adjudication by a two-judge bench the challenge to the 30-day prior notice provision in the Special Marriage Act, 1954.

The Centre told the court that the argument advanced about freedom of sexual orientation and autonomy may be raised in future to challenge the incest prohibition.

With inputs from PTI, IANS

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