Following the Nirbhaya outrage in December 2012, a new look is being given to laws on sexual assault. Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code lays down that intercourse or sexual act by a man with his wife who is not below 15 years is not rape. The Supreme Court has now struck down a part of this clause of the Section. Sex with a minor wife now, according to it, is rape. A case can be filed against the husband in such a case. In 2013, the Criminal Law Amendment Act raised the age of consent from 16 to 18 years. But married girls between 15 and 18 have no legal protection against sex without their consent. The SC has now decided that there is an unnecessary distinction between a married and an unmarried girl in this context. The Court’s recent decision is welcome. In August, the government held that such a ruling violated the concept of the institution of marriage in India and it impacted on children of such marriages. This was conceived in view of the country’s socio-economic ambience. The right of the girl child to bodily integrity was ignored.
The Court has however made it clear that its ruling about sex with minor wives without their consent was confined to only those under 18 and did not apply to marital rape of women above 18 years of age. The Court focused only on girls of 15 to 18 years. The Delhi High Court has been hearing an appeal for 2 months for a ruling to criminalise marital rape. The government however stresses the sanctity of the institution of marriage. The SC ruling a few days ago upholds the idea of consent to some extent and stresses the wife’s active role in the sexual act.