NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday decided to examine a matter arising out of split verdict by the Delhi High Court on marital rape.
A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and B V Nagarathna issued notice to the Union government on pleas against the May 11 judgement. The top court sought a response from the Centre and put the matter for hearing in February, 2023.
It also decided to club all pending matters.
Advocate Karuna Nundy, appearing for left-oriented organisation, 'All India Democratic Women's Association', said there was a substantial question of law here and the High Court's two judges were unanimous that this should be decided by this court.
Senior Advocate Gopal Shankarnarayan referred to a pending matter which could not be listed since 2018 despite repeated mentioning.
The plea was then filed by advocate Pooja Dhar on behalf of 'Youth for Equality', an organisation working against caste-based policies and reservation. It sought a declaration that Explanation 2 to Section 375 that reads as "Sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under fifteen years of age, is not rape" is ultra vires Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution and therefore void and inoperative.
On May 11, 2022, the Delhi High Court had given a split judgement on plea a challenging validity of Exception 2 of Section 375 Indian Penal Code (IPC) which decriminalised marital rape.
Justice Rajiv Shakdher favoured striking down the marital rape Exception, while Justice C Hari Shankar, the other judge in the bench, had said the provision under the IPC is not unconstitutional and was based on an intelligible differentia.
The court had then passed the judgement on petitions filed by NGOs RIT Foundation, AIDWA, a man and an woman seeking a direction to strike down of the Exception granted to husbands under the Indian rape law.
