Overview
- A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant told lawyers on Monday that it will hear the Union government's substantive position before setting a date for consolidated hearings on petitions that challenge the marital‑rape exception.
- Petitioners say the Centre has filed only a preliminary objection so far, and senior advocates told the court they want a fixed hearing in November while also noting that the parties have not exchanged pleadings.
- The legal challenge targets Exception 2 to Section 63 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which states that sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his wife who is at least 18 years old do not amount to rape.
- High courts have reached different conclusions on the issue: a 2022 Delhi High Court division bench issued a split judgment and the Karnataka High Court has ruled the exception violates Article 14, creating conflicting precedents now before the apex court.
- An authoritative Supreme Court ruling would resolve uncertainty left by the July 2024 criminal‑law reforms that kept the exception in place and could change whether married survivors can obtain criminal redress and how prosecutors handle such cases.