After multiple rape cases and various allegations of sexual harassment in various states of India, the government hasn’t yet been successful in making the girls feel safe in their environment. It’s sad to see new cases every single day.
The Chhattisgarh High Court has ruled that if a husband wants to have sex with his legal wife, even if it happens forcefully by the husband, it would not be considered a rape case. This rule was made as they discharged a man who was accused of raping.
The victim has also made specific allegations of her husband engaging in unnatural physical relations with her despite her protests. Not only was she raped by her “Legal Husband”, but was also harassed by her in-laws after a few days of her marriage for dowry and committed physical violence with her.
The police, after a primary investigation submitted a charge sheet under section 498-A (dowry harassment), 377 (unnatural sex), 376 (rape), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the three accused.
Reading out the order, Justice NK Chandravanshi of the Chhattisgarh High Court said, “sexual intercourse or sexual act by a man with his wife, the wife not being under 18 years of age, is not rape.”
“In this case, the complainant is legally wedded wife of applicant No 1, therefore, sexual intercourse or any sexual act with her by the applicant No 1/husband would not constitute an offense of rape even if it was by force or against her wish,” the judge further said.
Even though this topic has come up multiple times and various times it has been said that sex is a physical closeness between two hence it requires the consent of both, still giving out such orders shows how backward India is and there is barely any feminism in our country.
While some states are progressing, some are taking the road backward again. With Kerala having the highest level of literacy, they took the correct decision. Earlier in August, the high court of Kerala had high-backed marital rape as a valid ground for divorce.
At around the same time, Maharashtra provided bail to a man who was jailed for having forced sex with his wife even though the intercourse left her paralyzed.
“The entire order is baffling. On one hand, it says that ‘intercourse or any sexual act’ is not punishable with a legally wedded wife and on another hand, it upholds the charge of unnatural sex. The legal reasoning of both are contradictory…” said lawyer-activist Sudiep Shrivastava.
