The Chhattisgarh High Court on Thursday acquitted a man of marital rape and ruled that sexual intercourse between legally wedded man and woman is not rape even if it is by force or against the wishes of the wife.
The Chhattisgarh High Court held that “sexual intercourse or sexual act by a man with his wife, the wife not being under 18 years of age, is not rape.”
“In this case, the complainant is legally wedded wife of applicant No 1, therefore, sexual intercourse or any sexual act with her by the applicant No 1/husband would not constitute an offence of rape even if it was by force or against her wish,” the high court said in its order.
Earlier this month, the grievance of a woman who had accused her husband of committing sexual intercourse with her against her will did not stand up to legal scrutiny, Mumbai Additional Sessions judge Sanjashree J Gharat had observed.
“Being the husband cannot be said that he committed any illegal thing”, the judge said, according to a report by India Today.
The woman married on November 22 of last year, the prosecution said. According to the woman, following the wedding, her husband and his family began putting limits on her, taunting her, abusing her, and even demanding money.
The woman complained that her husband had intercourse with her against her will, a month after the wedding.
The pair had travelled to Mahabaleshwar, a hill station near Mumbai, on January 2nd, where he committed the act again against the woman’s wish, said the prosecution. Following that, the woman said she became ill and went to visit a doctor. The doctor informed her that she had suffered paralysis below the waist.
After this, the woman filed a FIR in Mumbai against her husband and others, who then filed an anticipatory bail application with the court.
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