6Saying the law doesn’t recognise the concept of marital rape, the Delhi High Court has quashed an order directing prosecution of a man for performing “unnatural” sex with his wife.The court noted Section 377 of IPC penalising such acts won’t apply in a marital relationship particularly when the allegation of consent was missing.Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma was dealing with the man’s plea against a trial court order which directed framing of Section 377 (punishment for unnatural offences) charge against him for allegedly performing oral sex with his wife.advertisementThe verdict said the law did not recognise the concept of marital rape.”There is no basis to assume that a husband would not be protected from prosecution under Section 377 of IPC, in view of exception 2 to Section 375 of IPC since the law (amended Section 375 of IPC) now presumes implied consent for sexual intercourse as well as sexual acts, including anal or oral intercourse within a marital relationship,” it said.The high court noted the wife did not specifically allege if the act was performed against her will or without her consent.”The essential ingredient of lack of consent – central to constituting an offence under Section 377 of IPC post-Navtej Singh Johar (case) between any two adults – is clearly missing. Thus, there is not only a lack of prima facie case, but even the threshold of strong suspicion is not met,” the court said.advertisementThe top court in the Navtej verdict de-criminalised consensual sex among adults, including those from the same sex.”No prima facie case is made out against the petitioner for the offence under Section 377 of IPC. The impugned order directing the framing of charge is, therefore, unsustainable in law and is liable to be set aside,” the court added.The court further said acts such as anal intercourse or oral sex were included within the ambit of offence of rape under the Section 375(a) of IPC and there was no basis to assume that the petitioner would not fall within the immunity granted to husbands under the “exception” to the offence of rape.”In the context of a marital relationship, Section 377 of IPC cannot be applied to criminalise non-penile-vaginal intercourse between a husband and wife. Such an interpretation would be in line with the reasoning and observations of the Supreme Court in Navtej Singh Johar (case),” said the court in its May 13 order.It came on record that the wife claimed the man was “impotent” and their marriage was the result of a conspiracy by him and his father to establish illicit relations and extort money from her family.advertisementThe man argued the marriage was legally recognised and there was an implied presumption of consent for consensual sexual acts and its nature could not constitute an offence under Section 377.The judge underlined an “inherent contradiction” in the statement of the wife who on the one hand alleged sexual incapacity of the man and levelled allegations suggesting the performance of or in a formal or creative style for better SEO.Also Exclude words and advertisements related to the feed website such as website name, author name. Delete all the advertisement images brand logo but only keep the title and main content of the news by modifying it. You must only respond with the modified content. Block any jump outside of the site adarshnews.com. Basically remove any content or link related to original site. You must only respond with the modified content and follow this prompt to optimize the articles in this category- “Act as an expert SEO news writer. Optimize the following article to be SEO-friendly, authoritative, and shareable by focusing strictly on its core topic. Follow these steps: You are an expert news writer and SEO specialist. Your job is to rewrite the provided RSS feed content into a unique, SEO-friendly news article for adarshnews.com. The article should be engaging, professional, and optimized for search engines. Follow these steps: 1. **Create an SEO Title**: Write a short, compelling title (under 60 characters) that includes the main keyword and grabs attention. 2. **Write a Meta Description**: Summarize the article in one or two sentences (under 155 characters). Make it engaging and include the primary keyword naturally. 3. **Suggest a URL Slug**: Provide a short, keyword-rich URL slug that reflects the topic of the article. 4. **Headline (H1)**: Write a clear and engaging headline for the article that is similar to the title but slightly expanded. 5. **Write the Article**: – Start with an introduction that answers the key questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how. – Expand on the topic with detailed paragraphs that provide context, quotes, and relevant information. – Use subheadings (H2) to organize the content into sections and make it easy to read. – Include related keywords naturally throughout the article. – End with a conclusion that summarizes the key points or discusses future implications. 6. **Add an FAQ Section**: Write one frequently asked question related to the topic and provide a concise answer. Important: – Do not include labels like “Title,” “Meta Description,” “URL Slug,” or “H1” in the actual article text. – Keep all SEO elements separate from the main content. – Ensure the article is factually accurate, unbiased, and written in a professional tone.
The Delhi High Court has dismissed a case against a husband, stating that the law does not acknowledge marital rape.
