The Supreme Court has stated it will wait for the central government's response on petitions concerning the criminalisation of marital rape before scheduling a hearing. This comes as the Centre has yet to file a substantive reply on the matter, which challenges the constitutional validity of exceptions in criminal law that protect husbands from prosecution for sexual acts with their wives. The issue involves the interpretation of Section 375 of the IPC (now replaced by Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita) and has seen split verdicts in high courts.
The Supreme Court has scheduled a final hearing for a batch of petitions challenging the marital rape exception in Indian law. The court will examine the constitutional validity of the provision that grants immunity to husbands from prosecution for sexual acts with their wives, even under the newly enacted Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. This significant legal challenge follows split verdicts from High Courts and seeks to address whether such an exception aligns with fundamental rights.
The Infinite Saree campaign is using India's most iconic garment to demand a law against marital rape in the country.
A sessions court in Delhi has upheld the acquittal of a man in a domestic cruelty and marital rape case, citing vague allegations and contradictions in the complainant's statements.
Under the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, exception 2 to Section 63 (rape) says that 'sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under eighteen years of age, is not rape'.
'Women's consent is central to this and the idea of equality, of bodily integrity. There needs to be some clarity on violence, that violence is violence where ever it happened. This is also a part of domestic violence'
'Why doesn't the prime minister wake up to these social issues?' 'This government is basically saying rape is all right.'
The Centre on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court not to hear this week the pleas on the vexed legal question of whether a husband should enjoy immunity from prosecution for the offence of rape if he forces his wife, who is not a minor, to have sex.
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 Supreme Court has said it listed for Tuesday pleas on the vexed legal question of whether a husband should enjoy immunity from prosecution for the offence of rape if he forces his wife, who is not a minor, to have sex.
The Delhi high court on Monday asked the Centre to clarify its position in principle on the issue of criminalising marital rape after the government sought time to formulate and place its 'considered stand.'
Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, who is demitting office on November 10, Wednesday deferred by four weeks hearing on pleas challenging the immunity granted to husbands in cases of marital rape.
Opposing the criminalisation of marital rape, which is sought by many petitioners before the apex court, the Centre has filed its preliminary counter affidavit in the top court.
The pleas raise the legal question of whether a husband enjoys immunity from prosecution for the offence of rape if he forces his wife, who is not a minor, to have sex.
A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and B V Nagarathna issued notice to the Union government and said it will hear the petitions in February 2023.
According to a United Nation Women report, most of these 34 countries were developing nations including Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Haiti, Laos, Mali, Senegal, Tajikistan and Botswana.
The Delhi high court on Wednesday delivered a split verdict with one of the judges favouring striking down the provision, and the other holding it was not unconstitutional.
The Delhi high court is scheduled to pronounce on Wednesday its verdict on a batch of pleas seeking the criminalisation of marital rape.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala asked the Union government to file its response on the issue by February 15 and the final hearing on the pleas would commence from March 21.
'It has to be ensured adequately that marital rape does not become a phenomenon which may destabilise the institution of marriage apart from being an easy tool for harassing the husbands,' the affidavit, filed through central government standing counsel Monika Arora, said.
The controversial issue of marital rape was again raked up on Monday before the Delhi HC.
The Delhi high court on Wednesday said there was an anomaly and misalignment in the erstwhile Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which was decriminalised by the Supreme Court in 2018, and the rape law that protects a husband from prosecution for a non-consensual sexual act, including unnatural sex, with his wife.
The senior lawyer, who contended that the marital rape exception was not constitutional, said that the marital rape exception would be tested on the anvil of its constitutionality and an individual's opinion was not relevant.
A court in Bhiwandi has denied interim protection from arrest to former BJP MLA Narendra Baburao Pawar in an alleged gang-rape case. The court cited the grave nature of the allegations, and Pawar, along with co-accused Shailesh Patil, remains absconding. The complainant had accused Pawar and Patil of rape after she sought his help for a marital dispute.
Presently, a five-judge Constitution bench headed by the CJI is hearing pleas relating to regimes on grant of driving license for different kind of vehicles under the Motor Vehicle Act.
The bench wondered if it struck down the immunity clause in the penal codes then the offence will be covered under the main provision on rape or "can the court create a separate offence or adjudicate the validity of the exception (clause)".
Criticising the Central government's move not to consider marital rape as a crime, Delhi Commission for Women chairperson Barkha Shukla on Thursday said that the former was compromising on the right and independence of women.
A parliamentary panel on Friday supported government's decision not to accept marital rape as a criminal offence, saying it could lead to "practical difficulties".
The Delhi high court Friday asked the Centre to inform whether it wishes to withdraw its 2017 affidavit in which it had submitted that marital rape cannot be made a criminal offence as it could become a phenomenon which may destabilise the institution of marriage and an easy tool for harassing husbands.
Explaining, the government said that marriage is treated as a sacrament or sacred as per mindset of the Indian society.
An appeal has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi high court's split verdict on the issue of criminalisation of marital rape on a batch of petitions challenging the exception in the law that exempts husbands from being prosecuted for non-consensual sexual intercourse with their wives.
The Allahabad high court has observed that 'protection of a person' from being charged in 'marital rape continues in cases where the wife is of 18 years of age or more'.
The Delhi high court on Wednesday delivered a split verdict on the issue of criminalisation of marital rape and granted leave to the parties to file an appeal before the Supreme Court.
The Delhi high court on Monday granted two weeks to the Centre to state its stand on petitions seeking criminalisation of marital rape following Solicitor General Tushar Mehta's submission that the government is neither in favour nor against striking down the immunity granted to husbands under the Indian Penal Code.
The top court said the distinction between married and unmarried women under the abortion laws is "artificial and constitutionally unsustainable" and perpetuates the stereotype that only married woman are sexually active.
The issue of criminalisation of marital rape involves 'family issues' as well as the dignity of a woman and cannot be looked at from a 'microscopic angle,' the Centre on Monday told the Delhi high court as it said that it was not possible for it to immediately respond with its stand.
The Centre submitted that it has sent communication to all states and Union Territories asking their comments on the issue and urged the court that the proceedings be adjourned till such time the inputs are received.
Government on Friday said it will bring a comprehensive law to criminalise marital rape by amending the IPC and was awaiting the Law Commission report on the issue.
The government's endeavour, she said, is to protect women in this country in collaboration with state governments.
The central government Thursday urged the Delhi high court to defer the hearing on pleas to criminalise marital rape while maintaining that it was committed to protecting "the liberty, dignity, and rights of every woman who is the fundamental foundation and pillar of a civilised society."
