Overview

• Justice GS Ahluwalia’s Gwalior bench held that non-consensual unnatural sex accompanied by physical assault meets the definition of cruelty under Section 498A IPC
• The court quashed charges under Sections 376 (rape) and 377 (unnatural offences) citing the marital rape exception in current law
• Criminal proceedings under Section 498A (cruelty) and Section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) will continue based on the wife’s allegations of violence when she resisted
• A February Chhattisgarh High Court decision also barred prosecution of husbands for rape or unnatural sex with adult wives regardless of consent, revealing legal inconsistencies
• Petitions challenging the marital rape exemption are pending before the Supreme Court of India, keeping consent and women’s rights at the forefront of judicial debate