Centre urges HC to defer pleas for criminalising marital rape

The Centre on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that it was committed to protecting the liberty dignity and rights of every woman who is the fundamental foundation and pillar of a civilised society and a meaningful consultative process with various stakeholders and state governments is needed on the pleas seeking criminalisation of marital rapeIt said that the issue of whether to criminalise marital rape has very farreaching sociolegal implications in the country and any assistance by the government can be meaningful only after consultative process with the participation of all stakeholdersUrging to defer the hearing on a batch of pleas to criminalise marital rape the Centre in an additional affidavit filed before a bench of Justices Rajiv Shakdher and C Hari Shankar undertook to provide a timebound schedule within which it will carry out such consultative process on the issue and render effective assistance in the proceedingsThe court which is conducting the marathon proceedings on a daily basis will now hear the matter on FridayldquoBoth the executive and the legislature are equally concerned and committed to the protection of fundamental rights of its citizens However it is the considered opinion of the Central Government that this court can be assisted only after a consultative process is undertaken by the Central government with all stakeholders including all the state governmentsrdquo the Centre in its affidavit filed through advocate Monika Arora saidldquohellipconsidering the social impact involved the intimate family relations being the subject matter and this court not having the privilege of having been fully familiarised with ground realities prevailing different parts of society of this large populous and diverse country taking a decision merely based upon the arguments of few lawyers may not serve the ends of justicerdquo it saidIt said the affidavit is in continuation of oral requests made on behalf of the Centre at various stages of hearings in January to defer the hearing in the caseldquoThe government of India is committed to fully and meaningfully protect the liberty dignity and rights of every woman who is the fundamental foundation and a pillar of a civilized societyldquoAt the same time the question involved in the petition may not be treated merely as a question concerning the constitutional validity of a statutory provision as the subject matter has and will have very farreaching sociolegal implications in the country The matter therefore needs a comprehensive approach rather than a strictly legal approachrdquo the affidavit saidIt said state governments and other stakeholders barring a few affected parties and the Central government are not before the courtIt said the first petition was filed in 2015 and the provisions whose validity is challenged is in existence since inception and it was only because one of the petitioners suddenly mentioned the matter for final hearing during the pandemic that the hearing has commenced leaving no time for the Centre to deliberate upon the issues and implications involved with all the stakeholders as the exercise takes a reasonable timeIt added that the absence of any such consultative process by the executive or legislature may result in some ldquoinjustice to one section or the otherrdquoThe Centre reiterated its request to defer the hearing and added that if the matter which is pending since 2015 awaits such fruitful exercise for some time no prejudice would be caused and it will be possible for the government to assist the court meaningfullyIt would be possible for the court to take a holistic view rather than deciding such a sensitive issue as a mere legal question based upon the submissions of a few lawyers it saidldquoThe deponent therefore reiterates that the hearing be deferred providing for a stipulated timeline within which the Central government would conduct an effective consultative process after which it will be in a position to assist this courtrdquo the affidavit filed by Prakash Joint Secretary in Ministry of Home Affairs saidThe bench is hearing a batch of petitions to strike down the exemption from prosecution for the offence of rape granted to husbands under the Indian Penal CodeIn its 2017 affidavit the Centre had opposed the pleas submitting that marital rape cannot be made a criminal offence as it could become a phenomenon that may destabilise the institution of marriage and an easy tool for harassing husbandsHowever the Centre recently told the court that it was ldquorelookingrdquo at its earlier stand on the petitions as that was brought on record in the affidavit filed several years agoThe court had said that the central government needs to make up its mind concerning its position on the issueLast week the court had asked the Centre to inform whether it wished to withdraw its earlier affidavit filed in the matter in view of its latest stand that it was undertaking a ldquoconsultative process on the issuerdquoIt was hearing PILs filed by NGOs RIT Foundation All India Democratic Womenrsquos Association represented through advocate Raghav Awasthi a man and a woman seeking striking down of the exception granted to husbands under the Indian rape lawThe petitioners have challenged the Constitutionality of the marital rape exception under Section 375 IPC rape on the ground that it discriminated against married women who are sexually assaulted by their husbandsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever