Marriage not license to unleash brutal beast on wife: Karnataka HC on rape case against husband
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Loading... - Shyla Reddy
- 24 Mar 2022
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Karnataka High Court on Wednesday allowed framing of charges against a man accused of raping his wife. The court observed that institution of marriage does not allow any 'special male privilege' and rape is a rape.
In her complaint, the woman also mentioned that her husband abused their daughter sexually. Hence, the court concluded that all charges against the husband, including the ones under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, will not be quashed.
The court examined the section of IPC that grants an exception to sexual activity within marriage, inequality the law causes and male privileges conferred by the institution of marriage. Here's what the court said.
MARRIAGE NO LICENSE TO UNLEASH BRUTAL BEAST
Justice M Nagaprasanna said that the institution of marriage cannot be used to confer any special male privilege or a license for unleashing of a "brutal beast" on the wife.
RAPE IS A RAPE
The court observed that a man is a man; rape is a rape, be it performed by a man the “husband” on the woman “wife".
"A brutal act of sexual assault on the wife, against her consent, albeit by the husband, cannot but be termed to be a rape. Such sexual assault by a husband on his wife will have grave consequences on the mental sheet of the wife, it has both psychological and physiological impact on her. Such acts of husbands scar the soul of the wives. If it is punishable to a man, it should be punishable to a man albeit, the man being a husband," the court said.
"For ages, man donning the robes of a husband has used the wife as his chattel but this age-old thought and tradition that the husbands are the rulers of their wives, their body, mind and soul should be effaced," the court observed.
SECTION 375 OF IPC - REGRESSIVE, NOT PROGRESSIVE
The court said, "When it comes to Section 375 of IPC the exception springs. In my considered view, the expression is not progressive but regressive, wherein a woman is treated as a subordinate to the husband, which concept abhors equality. It is for this reason that several countries have made such acts of the husband penal by terming it marital rape or spousal rape." Read More...
