Evolution or Devolution of Rights of Third Gender in the Indian Legal System?
This article examines the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution in the case of Arunkumar & Sreeja v. Inspector General of Registration & Ors. The case's legal implications, including Section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act and Articles 14, 19(1)(a), 21, and 25 of the Constitution, are examined in this case comment. It contends that refusing to register their marriage amounted to a violation of their fundamental rights to equality, freedom of speech, individual autonomy, and the exercise of religion. The paper emphasizes the necessity for evolving legislation to take into account the shifting socioeconomic landscape and provide equal rights to all people, regardless of their gender identification, in its conclusion.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits remixing, adapting, and building upon the work for non-commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited.