Marital rape hearing: Could open floodgates of false cases, Centre tells Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has been hearing a batch of petitions seeking criminalisation of marital rape. In written submissions filed in court on January 12, Centre told the court that the criminalisation of marital rape “could open the floodgates of false cases being made with ulterior motives”.

As per the report by the India Today, it also stated that "apprehensions of gross misuse of the offence of marital rape cannot be ruled out”.

The bench was hearing PILs filed by NGOs RIT Foundation, All India Democratic Women's Association, a man and a woman seeking striking down of the exception granted to husbands under the Indian rape law.

Under the exception given in Section 375 of the IPC, sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under fifteen years of age, is not rape.

The petitioners had said that marital rape was the biggest form of sexual violence against women and the Delhi government had said that this act was already covered as a "crime of cruelty" under IPC.

The petitioner NGO has challenged the Constitutionality of section 375 IPC on the ground that it discriminated against married women being sexually assaulted by their husbands.

(With inputs from PTI)