Do adult Indians have the right to marry whoever they want without parental permission? That may sound like a rhetorical question, but it could soon become a legal issue. Of course, under our Constitution and our present laws, girls over 18 and boys over 21 can marry whoever they want, regardless of region, religion and caste. Article 21 has been interpreted to guarantee this. Sadly, that doesn’t include gender, though they can live with someone of their own sex.

As recently as 2021, the Supreme Court in the Laxmibai Chandaragi B case ruled that “the consent of the family or the community or the clan is not necessary once the two adult individuals agree to enter into a wedlock and that their consent has to be piously given primacy”.

The government of Gujarat, however, seems to disagree. The deputy chief minister (CM), Harsh Sanghavi, has proposed amendments to the Gujarat Registration of Marriages Act 2006, which, as newspapers have summarised, make “consent of parents compulsory for registration of a marriage.” One can assume........

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