KEY STORY
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The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday declined to quash charges of rape made under Section 376 of the IPC, against a man accused of raping and holding his wife as a sex slave.
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According to single-judge Justice M Nagaprasanna, the institution of marriage cannot be utilised to grant any unique male privilege or a permission for unleashing a “brutal beast” on the wife, Bar and Bench reported.
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For centuries, a man in a husband’s robes has treated his wife as his chattel. The Court emphasised that the age-old belief and custom that men are the rulers of their wives’ bodies, minds, and souls should be abolished.
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The Karnataka High Court said, “A brutal act of sexual assault on the wife, against her consent, albeit by the husband, cannot but be termed to be a rape. Such sexual assault by a husband on his wife will have grave consequences on the mental sheet of the wife, it has both psychological and physiological impact on her. Such acts of husbands scar the soul of the wives.”
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The High Court also made it clear that a man sexually assaulting or raping a woman should be charged under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code.
CONCLUSION
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According to a report by Bar and Bench, the Court also said, “The contention of the learned senior counsel that if the man is the husband, performing the very same acts as that of another man, he is exempted. In my considered view, such an argument cannot be countenanced.”
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Under the particular facts of this case, the accusation made against the husband for alleged rape of his wife under Section 376 of the IPC does not deserve any interference and is a matter for trial.
