New Delhi: A two-judge Bench of the Delhi High Court gave separate judgments on criminalizing marital rape. One judge held marital rape a crime, while another judge disagreed, saying it did not violate the Constitution. The two-judge Bench in the Delhi High Court appeared to disagree with each other. The matter is related to marital rape, on which both the judges gave a divided verdict.
High Court Judge Rajiv Shakdher was in favor of criminalization of the case, so he pronounced his verdict declaring marital rape as a crime. While Justice Hari Shankar disagreed on this. He said that this exception does not violate Articles 2 to 375 of the Constitution. That's why he didn't classify it as a crime. It is noteworthy that the High Court had reserved its order in this matter in the month of February. Marital rape i.e. forced sexual intercourse after marriage is not yet considered a crime in the law.
In fact, in the petition filed in the Delhi High Court, it was demanded that after marriage, if her husband has physical relations with the woman against her will, then she should be brought under the purview of marital rape. The petitioner also gave the example of different countries in this case and while mentioning the respect of the woman, said that if it is considered as a crime to have a physical relationship with an unmarried woman without her consent, then even after marriage with the woman. Forcibly making physical relations should come under the category of crime.
