[BREAKING] Delhi High Court reserves judgment in petitions seeking criminalisation of marital rape

The Delhi High Court on Monday reserved its judgment in a batch of petitions demanding the criminalisation of marital rape [RIT Foundation v Union of India]..The verdict was reserved by a Bench of Justices Rajiv Shakdher and C Hari Shankar..Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Central government today, told the Delhi High Court that a stand on the issue could only be taken by the Centre after consultation with state governments and other stakeholders..He stressed that since this case could have an impact on social and family life with wide consequences, the Centre would only put forth its stand after the consultative process.“Generally, when a legislative enactment is challenged, we taken a stand. But those are commercial or taxation laws. There are very few cases when such wide consequences are found...It is therefore our stand that we will be able to put our stand only after consultation,” he said..He thus urged the Court to defer the matter till comments from all stakeholders were received..The Division Bench, however, opined that deference was not possible in an ongoing matter as there was no terminal date."The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that you have to close it. We are not the last repository of wisdom. Someone needs to take a call. Whether it is AG or lawmakers someone has to take a call," the Court said.After noting that counsel for all parties have made their arguments, the Court reserved its judgment. The case was listed for directions on March 2 and all counsels were directed to file their convenience compilations..The petitions challenged Exception 2 to Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which exempts non-consensual sex between husband and wife from the ambit of rape.On February 7, the Delhi High Court gave the Central government two weeks’ time to make its stand clear and come with a 'yes or no' answer on the issue of criminalisation of marital rape.Assistant Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma was asked to make the Centre’s stand clear by Monday, after which the Court would take a decision as to how much time the government has to be given either to argue its case or to take a wider consultative view on the issue..Read a live account of today's hearing here..Here are the summaries of what happened at previous hearings:Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7Day 8Day 9Day 10Day 11Day 12Day 13Day 14Day 15Day 16Day 17Day 18Day 19