India, July 17 -- The Delhi high court on Thursday asked the Centre to clarify the rationale behind excluding unmarried and same sex couples from giving consent on their partner's behalf for medical treatment/emergencies, saying that it saw no valid justification for such exclusion.

A bench of justice Sachin Datta sought justification while dealing with a plea filed by Arshiya Takkar, a queer individual, seeking directions to the Centre to frame guidelines allowing same-sex partners to give consent in medical situations/emergencies.

In her plea, Takkar had asserted that the absence of a clear legal framework rendered such couples powerless to make critical medical decisions for their partners.

This was after Centre's counsel Monika Aro...