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

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.

In a judgment on December 8, justice Divyesh Joshi had rejected the bail plea of a woman who was accused of abetting alleged sexual assault by her son against his wife.

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 own wife from the 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.

One of the petitions before the Supreme Court is an appeal by a man whose trial for allegedly raping his wife was approved by the Karnataka high court in March 2022.

In this matter, the then BJP-ruled Karnataka government filed its affidavit last November, supporting the criminal prosecution of the husband.

In August 2023, a case was filed in Rajkot by a woman alleging sexual assault by her husband, father-in-law and mother-in-law.

All three were subsequently arrested and chargesheet filed by the Gujarat police under sections 498A(cruelty by husband or relatives), 376(rape), 354(molestation) and 506(criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.