'Married or not, non-consensual intercourse with minor wife rape': HC
The Bombay High Court has ruled that non-consensual sexual intercourse with a wife below 18 years of age amounts to rape. The Nagpur bench, headed by Justice GA Sanap, upheld a 10-year sentence for a man convicted of raping his minor wife. The court was hearing the man's appeal against a 2021 sessions court judgment convicting him under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the Indian Penal Code.
Court dismisses appeal, upholds 10-year sentence
The man had argued their sexual relationship was consensual since the complainant was his wife. However, Justice Sanap said, "Sexual intercourse with a girl below 18 years of age is rape, regardless of whether she is married or not." The court stressed the legal defense of consensual sex doesn't hold when the wife is below 18 years old.
Case details reveal allegations of rape and fraud
The case stemmed from a complaint lodged in 2019 by the woman, who was a minor at the time. She alleged that the man raped and impregnated her against her wishes. They later lived together and went through a marriage ceremony, which she alleged was a sham. The woman accused the man of physically assaulting her and forcing her to abort their child. DNA analysis established them as biological parents of the child born out of this relationship.
Court rejects defendant's claims of innocence
The accused maintained innocence, saying their relationship was consensual and she wasn't a minor then. However, documentary evidence revealed she was born in 2002 and was a minor in 2019 when the incident took place. Justice Sanap dismissed his defense, observing that "the prosecution has proved that the victim....was below 18 years of age." "Even if it is assumed for the sake of argument that there was so-called marriage between them...it would constitute rape," he said.
