Four gay couples asked India’s Supreme Court on Friday to legally recognise same-sex marriages, in a sign of shifting values and a challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which has opposed gay marriage in the past. The petition, which comes four years after the same court struck down a colonial-era ban on homosexuality, is not expected to result in immediate change in the socially conservative country of 1.4 billion. But analysts say it reflects changing social attitudes, driven particularly by the urban middle classes. Modi’s administration initially opposed ripping up the ban on homosexuality, but its final decision to abstain allowed for the landmark ruling.