The Delhi High Court on Wednesday delivered a split verdict on pleas seeking criminalisation of marital rape and referred the matter to the Supreme Court. Justice Rajiv Shakdher ruled that marital rape was violative of the Constitution but Justice C Hari Shanker upheld the constitutional validity of Sections 376B and 198B.
Justice Shankar held that Exception 2 to Section 375 (Sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under fifteen years of age, is not rape) doesn’t violate Constitution as it’s based on intelligible different.
The petitioners had challenged the constitutionality of the marital rape exception under Section 375 IPC (rape) on the ground that it discriminated against married women who are sexually assaulted by their husbands.
Under the exception given in Section 375 of the IPC, sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his wife, the wife not being minor, is not rape.
The court was hearing a batch of petition including by the NGOs RIT Foundation and All India Democratic Women’s Association who have challenged an exception to section 375 to the IPC.
In February, the Centre had urged the court to grant more time to enable it to state its stand on the issue after a consultative process.
The request was however turned down by the bench on the ground that it was not possible to defer an ongoing matter endlessly.
In its 2017 affidavit, the Centre had opposed the pleas, saying that marital rape cannot be made a criminal offence as it could become a phenomenon that may destabilise the institution of marriage and an easy tool for harassing husbands.
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