Forced sex in marriage cannot be excused, it's a crime: Delhi High Court
- The Centre is against the criminalisation of forced sex since it fears that distressed women will misuse it against their husbands.
- The Centre had also sought the advise of the High Courts for a smoother judgement.
- The High Court is hearing petitions that seek directions to criminalise marital rape, something that the Centre is completely opposed to.
FollowAmid debates whether forced sex in marriage is a crime or not, the Delhi High Court has observed that it is a crime. Citing judgments in courts in Philippines, the European Union, the United States, and Nepal, the bench said that all of them considered forced sex a crime or a violation of a woman's dignity. The High Court is hearing petitions that seek directions to criminalise marital rape, something that the Centre is completely opposed to.Â
While this observation from the high court comes on Wednesday, the Centre on Tuesday had presented before the court that marital rape cannot be criminalised since there are chances of married women misusing it. The Centre had also sought the advise of the High Courts for a smoother judgement. The Centre said, "There is no rational for differentiating between marital rape and non-marital rape. The rational traditionally given is based upon archaic notions about consent and property rights incidental to marriage that are unable to withstand even elementary scrutiny".
The petitioner Counsel Collin Gonsalves read out the judgments from the European Union, the United States and Nepal, while heading toward a plea to criminalise marital rape and the declaration of Section 375 (offence of rape) of the IPC as unconstitutional on the ground that it discriminates against married women being sexually assaulted by their husbands.
Meanwhile, a judgement from Philippines stated that a married woman has the right to control over her own body, just like an unmarried woman. She can give or withhold her consent to have sex with her husband and the latter cannot force her for the same if she refuses. Gonsalves, however, said that Right to Privacy only protects consensual acts and not violence and that rape cannot be justified under the guise of privacy. He said, "Marriages cannot be viewed as giving the husband the right to coerced intercourse on demand. Marriage cannot be viewed as a licence for the husband to forcibly rape his wife with impunity." Here he quoted the verdict of the Nepal Supreme Court in 2001, which stated, "to say that the husband can rape his wife after marriage is to deny independent existence to women."
