September 6,2017:

Govt pleaded that criminalising sexual acts in 15-18 yr age will destroy the marital life of a girl who got married under 18-years of age.

On Tuesday, Centre has submitted before Supreme Court that,"Sexual Intercourse with a minor wife could not be criminalised in the view of prevalence of the child marriages in country and justified the legal protection given to the husband under provision of the rape which stated 'sexual acts by a man with his own wife, not being under the 15 years of age, is not rape'.

Centre has contended before the Apex Court Bench comprising of Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta that the child marriage is a social reality in India and Exception 2 in the Section 375 IPC was consciously retained by the Parliament to protect sanctity of such marriages.

Centre has further added that declaring exception as unconstitutional would lead to the criminal cases being filed in such cases and would destroy marital life of a girl who got married under the age of 18 years.

Section 375, Indian Penal Code states that,"A man is said to commit rape who has sexual intercourse with or without her consent when she is under 18 years of age but exception 2 says that sexual intercourse or acts by a man with his own wife, the wife being not under 15 years of age, is not rape".

Challenging validity of provision, NGO 'Independent Thought' sought the SC's direction for fixing age of the consent at 18 years for a wife for having sex with her husband and to quash exception carved out in the Section 375 to protect rights of children forced to get married by their parents.

Senior Advocate Rana Mukherjee, appearing on behalf of the Centre, pleaded that the court not to venture into area as it was for Parliament to take a call on such issue.

He further added that the Parliament was conscious of its social obligations and the international conventions on the child rights and took a decision to retain provision after examining all the aspects.

He said that the court was virtually hearing a plea to give recognition of marital rape which had been rejected by the Parliament.

Supreme Court has stated that issue before it was not on larger issue of the marital rape and its proceedings was confined to validity of Exception 2 of the rape provision. Validity of the child marriage was not related with exception clause as the minor girl might like to remain married but she might not like forced sexual intercourse and thus she might like to file complaint against such acts.

Centre in its written submission has states that there were 2.3 crore child brides in India and as per the National Family Health Survey, 46 percent of the women between ages of 18-29 years were married before age of 18. 899 cases were registered under the Prevention of Child Marriages Act in last three years and about 136 people have been convicted in the three years.

Source PTI

Related News @ Latest Laws-

29.8.2017 - Criminalising Marital Rape can destabilise institution of Marriage, Centre tells HC

9.8.2017 - SC rules Marital Rape is not penal offence even if Wife is Minor aged between 15 to 18 Years

25.7.2015 - POCSO vs Rape of Minor, Delhi High Court say No Offence if Sexually Assaulted Minor is shown married to Accused, Marital Rape not an Offence

29.4.2015 - ‘Concept of marital rape cannot be applied in India’

 

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