India’s supreme court has expanded the country’s definition of family to include ‘atypical’ households like same-sex couples, but Singapore’s courts have avoided such an approach and left it up to parliament to change the law, said Internal Affairs. – Minister of Justice K. Shanmugam said.
In a Facebook post on Thursday, Shanmugam said the constitutional amendment the government is about to pass aims to ensure that the definition of marriage in Singapore is decided by parliament, not the courts. Stated.
He cited an Indian court ruling last month — family benefits under the law must be extended to mixed families, same-sex couples and other households — against Singapore’s current definition of marriage. A clear example of the risk of social challenge men and women.
Shanmugam pointed out that Indian courts decided to recognize different types of families only a few years after repealing Section 377 of the Penal Code in 2018. The Act, like Singapore’s Section 377A, criminalized sexual intercourse between men.
At a National Day rally, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that Article 377A would be repealed, but also said the government would amend the constitution to protect the definition of marriage from legal challenge.
The next day, Shanmugam said the constitution will be amended to make it clear that it is the power of parliament to define marriage as between a man and a woman and formulate other family protection policies on that basis. said.
In a ruling last month, the Supreme Court of India ruled in favor of Ms Deepika Singh, who will take care of her husband’s children from a previous marriage.
The two judges argued that the notion that the “family” consists of one immutable unit, including the mother, father, and their children, ignores the fact that many families do not live up to this expectation. said.
Judge DY Chandrachud, who wrote the order, said a “family” could be defined by different compositions of adults occupying the role of primary caretaker for both biological and non-biological children. rice field.
Referring to Thursday’s Indian court ruling, Shanmugam said:
