MARITAL RAPE IN INDIA

Context: A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court will examine marital rape case after constitution benches conclude hearing some listed pleas.

• SC will examine that does a husband enjoy immunity from prosecution for the offence of rape if he forces his wife, who is not a minor, to have sex?
• The constitutional validity of an exception clause of Section 375 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) is under challenge as it exempts a husband from being prosecuted for rape for having non-consensual sexual intercourse with the spouse if she happens to be an adult.

Marital rape in India

• Marital rape (or spousal rape) is an act in which one of the spouses indulges in sexual intercourse without the consent of the other.
• In India, marital rape is not defined in any statute or law.
• Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) defines rape as a criminal offence and states that a man commits rape if he has sexual intercourse with a woman without her consent or if she is a minor.
• However, according to Exception 2 to Section 375 “sexual intercourse by a man with his wife, the wife not being under fifteen years of age, is not rape
• However, in a landmark judgment in 2018, the Supreme Court of India held that it will be considered rape if a man has sexual intercourse with his wife if she is aged between 15 and 18
• The only recourse against non-consensual sex for married women are civil provisions under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act or Section 498-A of the IPC on cruelty against a wife by the husband or a husband’s relatives.
• Today, more than 100 countries have criminalized marital rape but, unfortunately, India is one of the only 36 countries where marital rape is still not criminalized.