Delhi government opposes criminalisation of marital rape in HC, says it is 'already an offence'

New Delhi: The AAP government on Thursday opposed before the Delhi High Court the criminalisation of marital rape, saying it was already an offence under the existing laws. A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar was told by the Delhi government that marital rape is an offence under section 498A of Indian Penal Code, which deals with the husband subjecting wife to cruelty. Section 498A of IPC deals with cruelty to a married woman by her husband or his relatives where cruelty means any wilful conduct which is of such a nature which is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to life, limb or health (whether mental or physical) of the woman. [caption id=“attachment_4309425” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Delhi High Court. PTI[/caption] Delhi government additional standing counsel Nandita Rao said non-criminalisation of marital rape is “not a violation” of Article 21 (protection of life and personal liberty) of the Constitution as a wife is not compelled to live with a sexually abusive husband under personal law, Rao submitted. The government said that the creation of a marital rape as an offence by the court would be violative of Article 20 of the Constitution, as it was the prerogative of the legislative. The submission of the Delhi government came on a bunch of pleas seeking to make marital rape a criminal offence. The petitioners NGO RIT Foundation, All India Democratic Women’s Association and a marital rape victim have challenged as unconstitutional an exception to Section 375 of IPC and Section 376B. Section 375 that defines rape also says sexual intercourse by a man with his wife aged 18 years or above is not rape even if it is without her consent. Section 376B deals with sexual intercourse by man with his wife during separation. The Centre had told the High Court that criminalising marital rape “may destabilise the institution of marriage” and would become an easy tool for harassing husbands.