Will sex with minor wife amount to rape? SC to decide

The Centre however opposed the plea while arguing that saying marriage was sacrosanct.

The Supreme Court will decide if sex with a minor wife amounts to rape. A petition had been filed seeking to protect the interest of girls who are married off as minors.

Whether or not to create an offence for such an instance is something that the Supreme Court will have to decide now. The Parliament had refused to recognise marital rape and hence it is for the SC to come out with a verdict on this issue.

The Bench said, "Child marriage is not a good social practice but we cannot forget that that there are millions of such marriages taking place in the country. It should be changed through social movement. Although there are inconsistencies in various laws but can we create an offence through judicial interference?."

An NGO had filed a petition seeking directions for fixing the age of consent of a wife at 18 years for having sex with her husband. It challenged constitutional validity of the amendment in Section 375 (rape) of the IPC, which makes an exception on age of consent of the wife for sex.

The Centre however opposed the plea while arguing that saying marriage was sacrosanct and a social institution and it had to be protected particularly when the child marriage was a reality in the country. The exception in Section 375, which was amended in 2013, states that "sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under 15 years of age, is not rape".

OneIndia News