Delhi HC reserves order on plea seeking criminalisation of marital rape
New Delhi, February 21: The Delhi High Court on Monday reserved the order on a number of pleas seeking criminalisation of marital rape.
The order was reserved by a bench of Justices Rajiv Shakdher and C Hari Shankar and directed the parties if they want to file, then file their respective written submissions and compilations by March 2. The High Court also dismissed Centre's plea seeking to defer the hearing as it "needs time to clear its stand on the issue."
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who was representing the Centre appraised the court that a communication has been sent to the Chief Secretary of all the States and the chairman of the National Commission of Women over the matter.
"Your consultation process may go on. But to say that you want to defer it endlessly, that can't happen," the court ruled while listing the matter on March 2.
Earlier, Delhi High Court had given the Centre time to clear its stance on the issue.
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The Centre Government, on the other hand, had earlier claimed that the lack of any such consultative process by the executive/legislature could result in some injustice to one section or the other.
Thus, the Centre reiterated that the hearing should be deferred for a stipulated period of time within which the government would conduct an effective consultative process before being able to assist the Court.
"Considering the social impact involved, the intimate family relations being the subject matter and this Court not having the privilege of having been fully familiarized with ground realities prevailing in different parts of Society of this large, populous and diverse country, taking a decision merely based upon the arguments of few lawyers may not serve the ends of justice," the central government asserted before the court.
The Central government further claimed that it is entirely committed to defending every woman's liberty, dignity, and rights.
"The matter, therefore, needs a comprehensive approach rather than a strictly legal approach," it continued.
The court was hearing a number of petitions, including those filed by the RIT Foundation and the All India Democratic Women's Association, which challenged an exception to the Indian Penal Code's section 375.
The exemption to Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code states that sexual intercourse between a man and his own wife is not rape if the wife is not under the age of fifteen.
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-PTC News
