The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to clarify whether it will stick to its earlier stand that marital rape cannot be made a criminal offence in India.
A Bench of Justice Rajiv Shakdher and Justice C. Hari Shankar posted the query after Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma said that the government was “relooking” at its stand and needed time to come to a decision.
Mr. Sharma said the earlier stand given on affidavits date back to 2015 when the High Court started hearing the case.
The ASG requested the Bench to permit the Centre to make submissions on the issue next week.
“We want to hear what the government wants to say. If the government does not want to say anything, then we will go by the affidavits which are on record,” the Bench said.
“We are going to come to a conclusion one way or another... There are only two ways of closing this issue. One is the legislative route, the second is a court decision. There is no third way of closing this issue,” the Bench said.
“You [Centre] need to make up your mind whether you need to stick to the position that you have taken in the counter affidavit or you will change it. If you want to change it, you must let us know,” the Bench said.
Not defined in law
In India, marital rape is not defined in any statute or law. The High Court was hearing a bunch of petitions seeking to strike down the exception granted to husbands under the Indian rape law.
The exception says sexual intercourse by a man with his wife aged 15 years or above is not rape even if it is without her consent. In October 2017, the Supreme Court increased the age of consent to 18 years.
