Hinduism Survived Foreign Invasions Because Of Tolerance And Inclusion: CJI DY Chandrachud
During the hearing of the cases seeking legalisation of same-sex marriage, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said today that Hinduism survived foreign invasions due to tolerance and inclusion.
The Chief Justice of India made those remarks while explaining that the current societal attitude towards same-sex relationships is on account of "Victorian Morality".
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted before the Bench that the "movement" for mainstreaming same-sex relationships began in 2002. "I will very candidly share this. This kind of orientation must be in existence since time immemorial. But this movement started in or around 2002", he submitted.
The Chief Justice then responded, "Actually Mr. Solicitor, it is the other way around. You see, it was the impact of British Victorian morality that we had to forsake much of our cultural ethos. You go to some of our finest temples, which reflect the architecture and even if you look at it you will never say that this is either lurid or that it depicts some...It shows the depth of our culture".
"It was pragmatic and educative", Justice S. Ravindra Bhat joined in.
"Look at the great profound nature of our culture down the ages. What happened, unfortunately, was from 1857 and thereafter you got the Indian Penal Code for instance, we imposed as it were, a code of British Victorian Morality on a completely different culture and our culture was extraordinarily inclusive, very broad", the CJI continued.
"It is possibly one of the reasons why our religion survived even foreign invasions, because of the inclusion, tolerance. The breadth and profound nature of our culture", CJI Chandrachud added.
"Absolutely", the SG said, clarifying that he was on a different point. The CJI then went on to ask the Centre to come up with suggestions for solutions to the problems highlighted by the petitioners, saying that the Court can act as a facilitator for finding the solutions.
The Constitution Bench is to continue the hearing on Wednesday, next week.
Earlier in the day, Tushar Mehta told the Apex Court that there are two views on whether sexual orientation is innate.
The Solicitor General also submitted that the arguments made by the petitioners against restriction on same-sex marriage in the Special Marriage Act can possibly be used in future to challenge the restriction on incestuous marriages in the same statute.