Same-sex marriage: Know about all five judges residing on SC constitutional bench

Justice DY Chandrachud is the 50th Chief Justice of India and is currently heading the Constitution Bench hearing petitions on same-sex marriage. He has a term of over two years till 10 November 2024. Justice Chandrachud is known for his support for women's rights in the country, and has been part of several landmark rulings, including the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 2018, the grant of permanent commission to women officers in the armed forces, and the Sabarimala temple case where he held that barring the entry of women into the temple was unconstitutional. He has also been part of other key judgments like decriminalising adultery, Hadiya case, Right to privacy as a fundamental right, Aadhaar scheme validity and Freedom of expression and press freedom.

Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul is the second senior-most judge of the top court of the country and a former Chief Justice of the respective High courts of Madras, Punjab and Haryana, and Delhi. In August 2017, Justice Kaul was one of the eight judges who ruled in favour of privacy being a Fundamental Right. In 2008, Justice Kaul had also dismissed the charges against M F Husain for his nude painting of a lady who he termed as 'Bharat Mata'.

Justice Hima Kohli is the Chief Justice of the Telangana HC and became the first woman to occupy that position since it was separated from the Andhra Pradesh High Court in 2019. She was appointed as a Supreme Court judge in 2021 and is the ninth woman to sit as a female SC judge. She was part of the judicial committee that monitored the Delhi government's response to the Covid-19 pandemic in India, and has also rebuked the Centre and ICMR for delaying approvals that would allow private laboratories to conduct Covid testing.

Justice Ravindra Bhat is a former Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court and has been part of several important cases related to intellectual property rights, drug regulation, right to information and the plea against CAA. He graduated in law from Campus Law Centre in 1982 and was appointed an Additional judge of Delhi High Court in 2004 and was made permanent judge in 2006.

Justice PS Narasimha was appointed as a Supreme Court judge in 2021. He was previously the Additional Solicitor General of India from May 2014 to December 2018, and a member of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) which provides free legal services to weaker sections of society. As a senior advocate, Justice Narasimha appeared in the Ayodhya Title Dispute case and was appointed as amicus curiae for pending disputes relating to cricket administration at the BCCI.