The Rajasthan government, in a submition, has said that legalising same-sex relationships will create imbalance in the social fabric, leading to widespread consequences for the social and family systems.

The Congress-ruled Rajasthan government made the submition before the Union government in the midst of the hearing of petitions seeking legal recognition of same sex marriages in the Supreme Court.

The letter by Prakash Gupta, Principal Secretary, Department of Law, dated May 5, refers to the provisions and objectives of the Hindu Marriage Act, Muslim personal law, and the Special Marriage Act and says, “The Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of Rajasthan’s report says that same-sex marriages will create an imbalance in the social fabric, leading to widespread consequences for the social and family system.”

“The government circulated letters to District Collectors in state to know their views. The Collectors came to the view that there should not be a provision regarding same-sex marriages as the practice is not prevalent and is against public opinion in the state.”

Gupta’s letter further states that if public opinion was in favour of same-sex marriages, the same would have been addressed by the Assembly of the state or the Parliament.

The Rajasthan government said that a bureaucratic exercise in the state found that same-sex marriages are “not prevalent” and are “against public opinion”.

Rajasthan is among the seven state governments which submitted their stand on same-sex marriages to the Union government. As per the Centre’s submission, while Rajasthan opposed it, the other six states “Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Sikkim, and Assam” sought more time to examine the issue.

(The story has been published via a syndicated feed.)