Marriage doesn't mean wife always ready for sex

Business Standard: Marriage does not mean that a woman is always consenting for physical relations with her husband, the Delhi High Court today observed and also held that physical force is not necessary for constituting the offence of rape.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and C Hari Shankar said that in a relationship like marriage, both man and woman have a right to say 'no' to physical relations.

The court's observation came while hearing pleas seeking to make marital rape an offence and others opposing it.

"Marriage does not mean that the woman is all time ready, willing and consenting (for establishing physical relations). The man will have to prove that she was a consenting party," the bench observed.

It did not agree with the submission of NGO Men Welfare Trust, which is opposing the plea to make marital rape an offence, that in spousal sexual violence, the use of force or threat of force are important elements to constitute the offence.

"It is incorrect to say that (physical) force is necessary for rape. It is not necessary to look for injuries in a rape. Today, the definition of rape is completely different," the court said.

The NGO's representatives Amit Lakhani and Ritwik Bisaria argued that a wife already has protection from sexual violence in a marriage under the available laws, including Prevention of Women from Domestic Violence Act, harassment to married woman, sexual intercourse with wife without her consent while she is living separately and unnatural sex.

To this, the court said, if it was already covered under the other laws, why should there be exception in Section 375 of the IPC, which says intercourse or a sexual act by a man with his wife is not rape. BS