Supreme Court to govt: Spell out stand on marital rape

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 16

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to spell out its stand by February 15 on petitions seeking to criminalise marital rape, which is treated as an exception to rape under the existing law.

Reply by feb 15

• The SC has asked the Centre to spell out its stand on matrial rape by February 15
• A three-judge Bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud asked all parties to file written submissions by March 3

A three-judge Bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud asked all parties to file their written submissions by March 3 and posted the matter for final hearing on March 21.

The direction came after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Bench that the Centre would like to file a counter-affidavit as the issue had legal as well as social ramifications. He said the Centre had asked the states to give their inputs on the issue.

The Bench — which also included Justice PS Narasimha and Justice JB Pardiwala — appointed advocates Pooja Dhar and Jaikriti Jageda as nodal counsel to prepare a common compilation of all petitions, affidavits, counter-affidavits and written submissions for convenience of judges and lawyers.

There are three sets of petitions. The first one is by a Karnataka resident who is being tried for marital rape. The top court had on July 20, 2022, stayed the verdict of the Karnataka HC that put the man on trial for allegedly raping his wife, ignoring Exception 2 to Section 375 of the IPC that treats such cases as an exception to rape.

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