Supreme Court Refuses To Stay Karnataka HC Marital Rape Trial Against Man

The high court had allowed the trial court's order of framing charges for rape against the man.

Karnataka High Court had held on 23 March that “a brutal act of sexual assault on the wife, against her consent, albeit by the husband, cannot but be termed to be a rape."

(Photo: Kamran Akhtar/The Quint)

The Supreme Court on Tuesday, 10 May, refused to stay a Karnataka High Court order that allowed the trial of a man in a marital rape case filed against him by his wife.

The high court had allowed the trial court's order of framing charges for rape under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), LiveLaw reported.

Further, the high court had held on 23 March:

"The contention of the learned senior counsel that if the man is the husband, performing the very same acts as that of another man, he is exempted. In my considered view, such an argument cannot be countenanced. A man is a man; an act is an act; rape is a rape, be it performed by a man the "husband” on the woman “wife”.”

It may be noted that the high court has not ruled on the constitutionality of Exemption 2 to Section 375 IPC.

Senior advocate Siddhartha Dave, appearing for the man, requested the Supreme Court to stay the high court proceedings and submitted that the trial began on 29 May.

Meanwhile, senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for the wife, opposed the plea, stating that the trial had already been stayed for over five years.

The bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana and Justices JK Maheshwari and Hima Kohli issued a notice on the matter and said, "Now after notice, you can tell them we are hearing this case."

The Supreme Court will now hear the matter in the third week of July.

Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday, 11 May, will issue its verdict on the batch of pleas challenging the exception to Section 375, which exempts forced sexual intercourse by a man with his wife from the criminal offence of rape.

(With inputs from LiveLaw.)