SC Comes To Rescue Of Man Accused Of Raping His Wife

The Supreme Court on Wednesday came to the rescue of a man by granting an interim stay on his criminal trial for allegedly raping his wife.

A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli stayed the judgement of the Karnataka High Court which had allowed the trial of the man in a rape case lodged by his spouse.

“Learned counsel for respondent No.3 (Wife) has circulated a letter seeking an adjournment for four weeks to file a counter affidavit on behalf of respondent No.3...

“In view of the above, list the matter after one week. Until further orders, there shall be an ad-interim stay of the common impugned judgment and final order dated 23rd March 2022 passed by the High Court of Karnataka in Writ Petitions... and further proceedings in relation to Special C.C. No.... arising out of FIR ..., pending before the Additional City and Sessions and Special Court for cases,”  the bench said in its order.

The High Court verdict had come on the plea of the husband seeking quashing of the FIR alleging offence of rape by the spouse against him.

A single judge bench of the high court had held that the Exception clause of the IPC provision on rape,  which exempts a husband from the offence, is not "absolute".

The views of the Karnataka high court assume significance in the wake of the May 11 split verdict of the Delhi High Court on marital rape.

The issue of criminalising marital rape had witnessed a split verdict from the Delhi High Court with one of the judges favouring striking down the exception in law which grants protection to husbands from being prosecuted for non-consensual sexual intercourse with their wives, the other refused to hold it as unconstitutional.

An appeal against it for conclusive findings on the issue has been filed in the apex court. 

(With PTI inputs)