Legal Point: Judiciary's Religious Ideology's Impact
On Thursday (August 6), the Allahabad High Court in a verdict stated that sex with a minor ‘wife’ above the age of 15 will not be considered as ‘rape.’
The case was filed at the Bhojpur police station in Moradabad by the minor girl against her adult husband Khushabe Ali on charges of dowry, assault, criminal intimidation, and forced sex. The accused had then moved the High Court seeking bail in the case. While hearing the bail application of the husband accused of having sex with his minor wife, the Court ruled that it could not be held as ‘rape’. The verdict was given by Justice Md. Aslam of the Allahabad High Court.
He noted that Section 375 (punishment for rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was ratified in 2013. As such, an exception was added to the clause of rape. It read, “Sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under fifteen years of age, is not rape.” The Counsel for the petitioner claimed that the victim had denied the allegations, before the Magistrate, of sexual exploitation by Ali and his brothers. Justice Mo Aslam then granted bail to the accused.
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