The Delhi High Court’s split verdict on marital rape needs resolution
The HinduA division Bench of the Delhi High Court recently delivered a split verdict on whether exception two to Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code, i.e., marital rape exception, is unconstitutional. Since there is no rational nexus between the differentia and the object of the law, marital rape exception fails the test of reasonable classification and must be struck down as unconstitutional. Per Justice C. Hari Shankar, though the object of the main provision is, indeed, to punish acts of rape, the object of marital rape exception is to keep the ‘taint’ of the allegation of rape outside the marital sphere, and thereby protect the institution of marriage. Circular line of reasoning Moreover, according to this opinion, all non-consensual sex cannot be considered rape because the marital rape exception takes sexual acts within marriage outside the purview of the offence and label of ‘rape’.