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Chhattisgarh HC Ruling on Marital Rape
February 20 , 2025
4 hrs 0 min
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- The Chhattisgarh High Court has observed that a husband cannot be charged with rape or unnatural sex for engaging in the sexual relations with his wife, regardless of her consent, as long as she is above 15 years of age.
- The marital rape immunity in law is also extended to Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that criminalised “unnatural sex”.
- Section 375, which criminalises rape, states that the provision does not extend to “sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife,” when the wife has attained the age of majority (18 years old).
- If the age of the wife is not below 15 years, then any sexual intercourse or sexual act by the husband cannot be termed as rape.
- In November 2023, the Bombay High Court had ruled that consensual sex with a minor wife is rape, rejecting the defence of consent in such cases.
- The Nagpur Bench upheld a 10-year sentence for a man convicted after his minor wife accused him of rape.
- The Madhya Pradesh High Court ruled last year that unnatural sex with a wife is not rape and that a wife’s consent is irrelevant in such matters.
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