NEW DELHI: Concluding her arguments on Monday in the marital rape case in the Delhi High Court, senior advocate Rebecca John said she received a lot of hate in the last few days for her stand on the issue.
Rebecca told a division bench of Justices Rajiv Shakdher and C Hari Shankar that she was asked to recuse herself from the issue because she supported criminalisation of marital rape.
John is assisting as the Amicus Curiae in a batch of petitions demanding criminalisation of marital rape. The petitions are: Exception 2 of Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that exempts husbands from being charged under the said section even if they establish sexual relations with their wives without consent.
However, Justice Shankar said that every intelligent person has a view on everything and by that logic, everyone should recuse themselves from hearing every case. John also addressed the Court on the argument that alternate remedies exist within the law that address the crime of forced non-consensual sex upon married women.
In her final arguments, John submitted that though there are several IPC Sections such as 498A, 304B, 306, 377 as well as Dowry Prohibition Act, DV Act, PCPNDT Act and Sections of the Evidence Act that punish variety of crimes committed against married women, but each of these provisions and statutes deal with specific crime and the crime of rape is outside their purview.
“Under the structure of penal code, all offences are distinct although they may have some overlapping issues. Therefore, to argue that a woman has remedy under other acts or sections is not a tenable argument. They exist but for distinct and other offences. Section 375 is separate and there is no reason why 498A can be used as a substitute for 375. It can be used in addition but not as a substitute… My limited argument is that there can be base offences and aggravated. Some elements may be common. To say a wife has efficacious other remedies is the argument I cannot agree with. They exist in very very different spaces,” she said.