Posted On : 15 May, 2017
Source : PTI
Place : New Delhi
Are Indian men culturally superior: HC poser on marital rape

This was a poser to the authorities by the Delhi High Court which said this was a "serious issue".
"There is nothing like Indian and western society. Are men and women different in other nations? Are men in India culturally superior? It (marital rape) is a serious issue and it has become part of the culture," a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said.
The observations by the bench came when it was told by some NGOs, representing men, that there was a difference in culture in India and other nations where there are laws against marital rape.
The court, thereafter, asked the Centre how many nations had laws against marital rape and listed the matter for next hearing on July 18.
The bench was hearing two PILs dealing with an exception in Indian penal law that does not consider sexual intercourse with a minor wife, above 15 years of age, as rape.
The exception in section 375 of IPC which deals with the offence of rape was brought by way of the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 2013, which was enacted after the horrific gang rape case of December 16, 2012.
One of the petitioners, an NGO, has claimed that the exception was "unconstitutional and violative of the Right to Equality guaranteed to married women under Article 14 of the Constitution as it decriminalises rape when the perpetrator is the lawfully wedded husband of the victim."
The NGO, RIT Foundation, has claimed that marital rape has been criminalised in almost all major common law jurisdictions throughout the world, including in United States, United Kingdom, South Africa and Canada.
The Centre had defended its legislation saying child marriages were taking place in India and the decision to retain a girl's minimum age as 15 years to marry was taken under the amended rape law to protect a couple against criminalisation of their sexual activity.
The Centre had said that husbands have been protected from prosecution for any sexual act with their wives who are above 15 years of age in view of the "social reality" of child marriages in India.
"Although the age of consent is 18 years and child marriage is discouraged, marriage below the permissible age is avoidable but not void in law on account of social realities," it had told the court earlier.
TOP NEWS
- Court restrains media from reporting investigation in case against ex-judge Quddusi
- National Herald: Congress leaders accuse Swamy of defaming them
- Gangster Abu Salem denied parole to get married
- SC to hear on Apr 23 pleas on dilution of anti-dowry law
- Malegaon blast: Purohit can raise UAPA sanction issue before trial, says SC
- SSC exam: SC asks DOPT Secy to pass reasoned order in six weeks on grievances
- HC asks West Bengal election commission to reschedule panchayat poll, quahes its notification
- Jharkhand HC seeks medical reports of Lalu from AIIMS-Delhi
- HC stays 26/11 trial against Abu Jundal till June 11
- Decision not to conduct class 10 maths re-exam based on trend analysis: CBSE to HCDecision not to conduct class 10 maths re-exam based on trend analysis: CBSE to HC
- SC disturbed at MPs raising CJI impeachment issue in public
- HC acquits Kodnani in riot case; upholds Bajrangi conviction
- SC dismisses Dawood kin's plea on attachment of properties
- HC rejects BJP MP's plea to enhance his security
- Bengal Panchayat poll: HC asks SEC to file affidavits, verdict on Friday
- Kejriwal discharged in DDCA defamation case
- Yamuna water: SC summons chief secretaries of Delhi, Haryana
- Jammu HC Bar Association tells SC it did not support lawyers' protest in Kathua case
- Loya's death case: SC dismisses pleas for probe, says he died of natural causes
- SC reserves order on TN doctors' plea for quota in admission to PG courses
- HC questions Centre's policy exempting autos from having panic buttons
- SC asks Jay Shah, web portal to try to settle defamation case
- HC seeks Centre, Delhi govt reply on BJP MLA's plea against Assembly resolution
- Gujarat HC reserves order in 2002 Ode massacre appeals case
- 1988 Road rage case: SC reserves verdict on Navjot Singh Sidhu's appeal
- Fodder scam case: 14 years jail to animal husbandry dept's ex-director
- Media houses apologise before HC for revealing Kathua victim identity
- HC irked by North MCD over removal of tree at Chandni Chowk
- Can convict of one state be jailed in another: HC poser to Delhi govt
- Ghazipur landfill site: NGT summons commissioners of police, EDMC
- Decide school safety guidelines in 3 months, SC to Centre
- Won't stake claim to Taj Mahal: Sunni Wakf Board tells SC
- Charge sheet filed against four DU students for 'stalking' Smriti Irani
- Process to appoint eminent jurist to select Lokpal underway: Centre tells SC