[Marital Rape] Supreme Court stays Karnataka High Court judgment allowing prosecution of man for rape of wife

The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed a March 23 judgment of the Karnataka High Court which had declined to quash the charge of rape framed under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against a man accused of raping and keeping his wife as a sex slave [Hrishikesh Sahoo v. State of Karnataka]..A bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli also stayed the proceedings arising out of the FIR pending before the Additional City and Sessions court. "Until further orders, there shall be an ad-interim stay of the common impugned judgment and final order dated March 23, 2022 passed by the High Court of Karnataka in Writ Petitions No.48367/2018 and 50089/2018 and further proceedings in relation to Special C.C. No. 356 of 2017 arising out of FIR bearing Crime No. 19/2017, pending before the Additional City and Sessions and Special Court for cases under the POCSO Act, Bangalore," the order said.The case will be heard again after a week..The Court was hearing an appeal filed by the husband against the High Court judgment rendered by single-judge Justice M Nagaprasanna.The High Court had said that the institution of marriage cannot be used to confer any special male privilege or a license for unleashing of a "brutal beast" on the wife.In the present case, after a few years of living together, the relationship of the couple had become strained. After many instances of physical and mental torture to the wife and the child, the wife registered a complaint against the husband for offences punishable under Sections 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) 498A (cruelty to wife) 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) 377 (Unnatural offences) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 10 (aggravated sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO).The Special Court framed charges against the petitioner-husband for offences punishable under Sections 376 (rape), 498A and 506 of IPC and Section 5(m) and (l) read with Section 6 of the POCSO Act.The husband then moved the High Court to quash the same. The single-judge of the High Court, however, refused to grant the prayer observing that men have been donning the robes of husband for ages to use the wife as his chattel but this age old thought and tradition that the husbands are the rulers of their wives, their body, mind and soul should be effaced.The Court noted that what drove the wife in the present case to register the complaint was the allegation of brutal sexual acts by the husband against her, as also, sexual abuses against the child.The High Court, therefore, held that a man sexually assaulting or raping a woman is amenable to punishment under Section 376 of IPC."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," the High Court had underscored.It also noted that the charge sheet filed by the police after investigation depicted graphic details of the "demonish lust" of the husband, that he has had unnatural sex and sexual intercourse upon torturing or abusing the wife, or threatening to beat the daughter.Further, during the pendency of the proceedings before the Sessions Court, the wife had sought help from different quarters and clearly indicated as to how brutal the petitioner used to have sex and anal sex with the wife in the presence of his daughter who was 9 years old at that point. He later used to touch the private parts of the daughter and also indulged in sexual acts against the daughter.The High Court, therefore, concluded that the charge framed against the husband by the Sessions Judge for the offence punishable under Section 376 of the IPC for alleged rape of his wife, in the peculiar facts of this case, did not warrant any interference and was a matter of trial.This judgment has now been challenged before the apex court..[Read Order]