The setback from the Supreme Court on Tuesday, refusing to grant legal recognition to same-sex marriages, failed to dampen the spirits of a gay couple who decided to get engaged right in front of the court premises on Wednesday.

A day after the verdict by a five-judge Constitution bench, Utkarsh Saxena, a lawyer, and Ananya Kotia, a PhD student at the London School of Economics, exchanged rings in front of the Supreme Court building in Delhi, vowing to continue their fight for their rights.

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Saxena, wearing his lawyer robe, knelt down to propose to his partner Kotia, a moment they shared on X (formerly Twitter). Kotia expressed his disappointment with the Supreme Court judgment, but said that they returned to the court to celebrate their engagement.

“So this week wasn’t about a legal loss, but our engagement. We’ll return to fight another day,” Kotia shared on X.

In an exclusive conversation with The Indian Express, Saxena revealed that he had already planned to propose to his partner on the day of the judgment.

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Naturally, they had hoped for a favourable verdict. Saxena even secretly measured his partner’s ring finger while he was asleep. However, uncertainty persisted, so he purchased a trial ring from Janpath. On the day of the judgment, they were both disheartened and left the court swiftly. It was that evening when Saxena shared his plans with Kotia, who regretted not having proposed earlier, feeling it would have made their day better.

“We were, of course, hoping that the judgment would be favourable. I had surreptitiously tried to take measurements of my partner’s ring finger while he was sleeping. But I still wasn’t sure. So, I bought a trial ring from Janpath. On the day of the judgment, of course, I didn’t feel up to it. Moreover, we left the court quickly because we were quite upset. I told my partner about my plans that night. My partner said I should have proposed that day because that would have made the day better for him,” he said.

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Saxena also confided in his mother, who became emotional and encouraged him to go ahead with the proposal. Consequently, the couple returned to the court the following day to make their engagement official.

“We didn’t want the memory of the week to be tainted by the setback but colored with hope,” Saxena explained. “I can see our post gave a lot of people hope and courage. And now, I feel, the community needs it more than ever. We are, of course, considering our legal options but I would also like to point out that this community is defined by perseverance. Even the 2018 (decriminalising gay sex), didn’t come easily to us,” said Saxena who was one of the 21 petitioners and was also a lawyer in the case.