Overview
- The Supreme Court, which heard preliminary arguments on Monday, said it will first consider the Union government's formal response and then set a date for a detailed hearing on the consolidated petitions.
- Petitioners told the bench the Centre has filed only a preliminary objection so far and urged the court to list the matter for a fixed hearing in November, noting that parties have not exchanged their petitions to clarify overlaps and differences.
- The 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 own wife who is at least 18 years old do not amount to rape.
- The petitions collect conflicting high‑court rulings, including a split Delhi High Court verdict where one judge called the exception unconstitutional and another upheld it, and a Karnataka High Court decision finding the exception inconsistent with Article 14.
- If the Centre’s substantive stance narrows or broadens the issues, it could change which legal tests the court must resolve and directly affect married women's ability to seek criminal redress for non‑consensual sex with husbands.