Rape is rape, even if husband committed it, says Gujarat HC

The Gujarat high court has said that rape is a grave offence, even if it is committed by the victim’s husband, and pointed to marital rape being illegal in several countries across the world.

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In ajudgment on December 8, justice Divyesh Joshi rejected the bail plea of a woman who was accused of abetting sexual assault by her son against her daughter-in-law. A man is a man; an act is an act; rape is rape, be it performed by a man, the husband’ on the woman wife’, the judge said.

To be sure, the Supreme Court of India is currently adjudicating a clutch of petitions that relate to the exception to Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code, which keeps aside forceful sexual intercourse by a man with his wife from purview of the rape law.

While a set of public interest litigations PIL) have challenged the validity of the immunity clause on the grounds of discrimination against married women, a split verdict by the Delhi High Court in May 2022 is also pending before the top court for a final word.