On Friday, the Supreme Court issued notice to the BJP-led Centre and others over a plea against the Delhi High Court's split verdict on an issue relating to criminalising marital rape matter.
A bench of justices Ajay Rastogi and Justice BV Nagarathna agreed to examine the issue and further listed the matter for hearing next year in February.
All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) among others has reportedly moved the SC against Delhi HC's split verdict on issues relating to criminalising marital rape matters.
On May 12, Delhi HC 's two-judges bench pronounced a split verdict on an issue.
Delhi HC's Judge Justice Rajiv Shakdher ruled in favour of criminalising while Justice Hari Shankar disagreed with the opinion and held that Exception 2 to Section 375 does not violate the Constitution as it is based on intelligible differences.
As per the order passed by Justice Rajiv Shakdher, husbands can be held criminally liable for sexual relations without the consent of the wife. Justice Hari Shankar expressed disagreement with this view.
Advocate Karuna Nundy represented AIDWA while advocate Rahul Narayan filed the plea.
In its plea, AIDWA said that the exception allowed to marital rape is destructive and in opposition to the object of rape laws, which clearly ban sexual activity sans consent. It places the privacy of a marriage on a pedestal above the rights of the woman in the marriage, it added.
The petition said that the Marital Rape Exception is in violation of Articles 14, 19(1)(a) and 21 of the Constitution.
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