In more mind-numbing news today, Gujarat High Court has passed a judgement saying that non-consensual sex after marriage cannot be termed as rape. Did your mind just blow to pieces with sheer anger? Wait, that’s not all.
The court also added that oral sex is unnatural and hence, akin to cruelty.
This verdict was passed on a lady doctor’s case where she had accused her husband of forcing her to have sexual intercourse, perform oral sex and other unnatural activities along with torturing her for dowry. The husband, who is also a medical professional, moved to the Gujarat High Court rejecting this accusation.
After the hearing, Justice J.B. Pardiwala said: “The husband cannot be prosecuted for the offence of rape punishable under Section 376 of the IPC at the instance of his wife as the marital rape is not covered under Section 375 of IPC… which provides that sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under 18 years of age, is not rape.”
Justice J.B. Pardiwala, however, added that the wife can ask the court to start proceedings against her husband for the case of unnatural sex under IPC Section 377. Torturing a person for dowry is also considered as a crime by the court.
What really stands out, in this case, is how low a precedent Gujarat High Court has set for the rest of the nation. While we are fighting for women’s rights every day, they all come to a standstill after marriage. A woman is not her husband’s property and they should definitely not indulge in oral sex or any ‘unnatural‘ sex acts, yet, she doesn’t have the right to say no?
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