New Delhi:The Supreme Court bench led by the Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, on Wednesday listed the hearing of petitions seeking to declare marital rape as a criminal offence for hearing on May 9.
The matter was mentioned by Senior Advocate Indira Jaisingh before the bench also which also comprised Justice PS Narasimha and Justice JB Pardiwala. The Bench asked the Solicitor General of India, Tushar Mehta, who was present when the matter was mentioned, how much time he would require to argue on the matter. The Solicitor General told the top court that he would take one and half days as it pertains to an important issue.
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The matter was supposed to come up for hearing on March 21 but due to the unavailability of Justice JB Pardiwala, it could not be heard. The Union government has already been asked to file its response in this regard.
There is a batch of pleas in the top court regarding the issue. The clutch of petitions includes four matters: first, an appeal challenging the split verdict delivered by the Delhi High Court on the matter; second, those dealing with the provision of exception for marital rape; third, some challenge the Karnataka High Court's order according to which sustained charges can be brought against the husband under section 376 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) for forced sex, fourth, there are also intervention applications that want to put their stand in the issue.
