The Chhattisgarh High Court recently acquitted a man who indulged in unnatural sex with his wife leading to her death on the grounds that a man cannot be prosecuted for marital rape in India.
The case involved the husband of a victim who died on December 11, 2017. The prosecution argued that the man engaged in forceful and unnatural sexual intercourse with his wife, inserting his hand into her anus, which allegedly led to severe pain and ultimately contributed to her death.
The victim’s dying declaration, recorded by an executive magistrate, stated that she had fallen ill due to the forceful sexual intercourse by her husband, The Hindustan Times report said.
In May 2019, the trial court convicted the appellant for rape, unnatural offences, and culpable homicide not amounting to murder, sentencing him to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment.
A single-judge bench of justice Narendra Kumar Vyas of Chhattisgarh High Court overturned the order.
“In the present case, the appellant is a ‘husband’ and victim is a ‘woman’ and here she is a ‘wife’ and parts of the body which are used for carnal intercourse are also common, therefore, the offence between husband and wife cannot be made out under Section 375 of IPC,” the high court judge wrote in the order.
About the homicide charges, justice Vyas maintained that the girl’s dying declaration could not be relied upon because it lacked corroboration and there were doubts about its veracity too, the HT report said.
Marital rape is not punishable by law in India. The High Court judgment now leaves unnatural sex out of the ambit of punishment as well, NDTV noted.
NDTV recalled that the Supreme Court was hearing a clutch of petitions seeking criminalisation of marital rape but the hearing got suspended as then Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud who headed the bench was about to retire.
A new bench is expected to hear the matter.
The Centre maintains that protection of the institution of marriage is essential and there is no need to criminalise marital rape. So it is not within the court's purview to take a decision on the matter.
During the hearing, the government also maintained that parliament has provided several measures to protect the consent of a married woman within marriage, NDTV added.