SC allows HP to withdraw prosecution against MLAs in pandemic cases

The Supreme Court allowed the Himachal Pradesh govt to drop minor criminal cases against MLAs for pandemic-era protests. The court also agreed to hear petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the marital rape exception in the Indian Penal Code.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday permitted the Himachal Pradesh government to withdraw prosecution in several criminal cases registered against sitting and former MLAs during the COVID-19 pandemic, observing that the cases did not involve any grave or heinous offences.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana noted that the cases involved incidents such as burning of effigies and holding dharnas on highways, with no reported injury or damage to public property.

The court’s order came on the State’s appeal against an April 2024 Himachal Pradesh High Court order. The High Court had allowed withdrawal of prosecution in 15 of 65 cases but declined permission in others involving offences under the IPC, National Highways Act and Disaster Management Act.

The bench said the alleged incidents took place during the exceptional circumstances of the pandemic, when people, including public representatives, were facing distress, and allowed the state to withdraw prosecution in the cases. The apex court observed that the incidents alleged in these cases pertain to the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was an exceptional situation where people, including public representatives, were in distress in different manners.

SC to examine marital rape exception

In a separate case, the Supreme Court earlier today also agreed to examine the constitutional validity of the marital rape exception under Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which provides that sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife do not constitute rape.

The Court will also hear an appeal against a March 2022 judgment of the Karnataka High Court which refused to quash rape charges against a husband accused of sexually assaulting his wife.

The development came while the Court was hearing a batch of petitions, including PILs filed by separate petitioners, challenging the constitutional validity of Exception 2 to Section 375 IPC. The petitions also concern the corresponding exception under Section 63 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and seek its reading down to the extent it excludes non-consensual sexual acts within marriage from the offence of rape. (ANI)

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