From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court registry on Tuesday registered a petition on the marital rape against Delhi HC’s split verdict last week on petitions to quash a provision that decriminalises forceful sexual intercourse by husbands.
The petition seeking criminalisation of the marital rape was filed by Khushboo Saifi, one of the petitioners in Delhi High Court. On May 11, Justices C Hari Shankar and Rajiv Shakdher passed a split verdict, Justice Shankar taking recourse to the exception in the rape law that forcible sexual intercourse by a man with his wife is not rape unless she is below 15 years of age while Shakdher held the exception as unconstitution.
This will be the second case before the top court on the marital rape as a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India N V Ramana for hearing in the third week of July. It rejected a petitionfiled by a Bengaluru-based husband to dismiss the case fought by Bratiti @ Pinki of Bengaluru since 2017, in which only recently the Karnataka High Court has upheld the trial court’ decision to frame charges of rape under ection 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
