The Madhya Pradesh High Court ruled that any sexual activity, including irregular sex, in the marriage shall not be termed illegal because there is no law on marital rape in India. The court said that as the dissolution was in the tenancy matter, the wife’s consent in such cases was unnecessary.
This order which was issued on May 1st by Justice Gurpal Singh Ahluwalia in the bench of the High Court was a response to an FIR filed by a woman who was accusing her husband of giving a blowjob to her frequently.
As the complainant testified, after her marriage, the husband raped her when she visited her son-in-law’s house for the second time in June 2019. However, the court also remarked that coitus with a lady whose person is above 15 years, who is the spouse of the accused, and who is residing with him in a valid marriage would be considered coitus and not rape.
The bench also talked about the exception provided under Part III of the IPC headed by Section 376-B. According to this exception, if the gender act takes place after the period of separate living due to circumstances like judicial separation, it will be considered as a case of rape.
Under section 375 of the IPC, the definition states that any sexual assault of a woman without their consent is an instance of rape. Nonetheless, Clause 2 of Section 375 grants immunity to marital non-consensual sex provided that both husband and wife over 15 years of age are husband-free, which equates to removing the possibility of legal proceedings against this kind of action.
