New Delhi: Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind on Saturday filed an Intervention Application (IA) with the Supreme Court seeking to be a party in the same-sex marriage case, and opposed the pleas seeking legalisation of same-sex marriages.

Jamiat Ulama-i- Hind had told the apex court that as a legal institution, marriage between the opposite sexes has been central to the legal regime of India.

"Concept of same-sex marriage will attack the family system. Among Muslims, marriage is a sacred contract leading to the union of a biological man and a biological woman. Invoking the principle of constitutional morality to justify same-sex marriage based on the fact that in some parts of the world, this practice is legal, can be very harmful to the social order of the other part," Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind, in its plea filed before the Supreme Court, said.

The batch of petitions pertaining to the legality of same-sex marriages are listed for final disposal and hearing by a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on April 18, 2023.

It is also pertinent to mention that most eastern countries do not recognize same-sex marriages. The application also relied on various religions to state that same-sex "marriage" cannot be permitted, it said.

While opposing the petitions seeking to legalise same-sex marriage, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, said that the concept of marriage is more than just the socio-legal recognition of a union of ‘any two persons’.

It said that the recognition is on the basis of established societal norms which cannot keep changing on the basis of variable notions based upon newly developed value systems emerging from a different worldview.

"It is submitted that as a legal institution, marriage between the opposite sexes has been central to the legal regime of a country like ours," Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind said.

The plea filed by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind said that the petitions seeking recognition of same-sex "marriages" are diluting the concept of marriage, which is "a stable institution", by introducing a "free-floating system", which is same-sex marriage.

The countries which have legalised same-sex marriages have reached a certain threshold of social order in terms of education/literacy and societal acceptance, the application argues that the concept of same-sex marriage cannot be introduced in India, the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind said in its plea filed before the Supreme Court.

(With UNI inputs)