SC to hear pleas on marital rape next week
Supreme Court will next week hear pleas on the intensely discussed 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. A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra on Monday took note of the submissions of senior advocate Karuna Nandy, appearing for one of the parties, that the petitions on the issue of marital rape be heard.
The CJI said the pleas will be heard next week. The bench, he added, would be busy this week in dealing with a batch of matters on taxation laws.
On July 16, senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for one of the parties, had mentioned the petitions and said they be accorded «some priority».
The CJI had said the pleas will be heard and indicated that they might be taken up on July 18.
Under the exception clause of Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code, now repealed and replaced by the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his wife, the wife not being minor, is not rape.
Even under the new law, 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».
On January 16, 2023, the apex court had sought the Centre's response on a clutch of petitions assailing the IPC provision providing protection to a husband against prosecution for forcible sexual intercourse if the wife is an adult.
Later on May 17, it
