Unmarried, and queer couples also families: Supreme Court's landmark ruling

In a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court of India reportedly held that families can be in the form of "domestic, unmarried partnerships" and "queer relationships". The apex court ruled that "atypical" manifestations of family units are as real as their traditional counterparts, and deserve protection under law.

The observations were part of a judgment which said that a working woman cannot be denied maternity leave for her biological child simply because her husband has two children from a previous marriage and she had availed the leave to take care of one of them.

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The court said that many families do not conform to legal and societal expectations of a single, unchanging unit with a mother, a father, and children.

The ruling comes amid a continuing push for legal recognition of LGBT marriages and civil unions, as well as permission for live-in couples to adopt children. The Supreme Court had decriminalised homosexuality in India in 2018.

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