Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP K Kanimozhi has strongly criticised the Chhattisgarh High Court’s verdict that acquitted a man convicted of raping and brutalising his wife, reigniting the ongoing debate on marital rape in India. The ruling has sparked outrage among activists, legal experts, and women’s rights organisations, who argue that the current legal framework continues to deny justice to victims of marital sexual violence.
The Chhattisgarh High Court, in its judgment, stated that sexual intercourse, including unnatural acts, by a husband with his adult wife, even without her consent, does not constitute a crime under Indian law. This decision was delivered by Justice Narendra Kumar Vyas while hearing an appeal filed by a man from Jagdalpur, who had been convicted by a trial court in Bastar district under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 376 (rape), 377 (unnatural sex), and 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) following the death of his wife.
The case dates back to December 2017, when the woman, before succumbing to her injuries, provided a dying declaration before an executive magistrate, alleging that her husband had forcibly committed unnatural sex with her, leading to severe health complications. Based on her statement and other evidence, the trial court in Jagdalpur sentenced the accused to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. However, the High Court overturned the conviction, ruling that the existing legal framework does not classify forced sexual acts within marriage as rape or unnatural offences.
Reacting to the verdict, Kanimozhi took to social media platform X and expressed her outrage over the ruling, calling it a direct example of the state enabling sexual violence within marriage. “A woman was raped, brutalized, and killed. But in India, her suffering doesn’t count, because our laws still refuse to recognise marital rape as a crime. This is the state enabling rape. The government’s stand that marriage is a sacrament and citing reasons such as illiteracy, religious sentiments, myriad social customs, and values for ignoring marital rape is appalling. How many more women must die before India stops protecting rapists in marriage? #CriminaliseMaritalRape NOW,” she wrote.
The ruling referenced the 2013 amendment to Section 375 IPC, which explicitly excludes sexual intercourse between a husband and wife from the definition of rape, provided the wife is above 15 years of age. The court also cited the Supreme Court’s 2018 verdict in the Navtej Singh Johar case, which decriminalised consensual same-sex relations but maintained the legal distinction for forced acts within marriage.
Legal experts and women’s rights activists have long argued that the marital rape exemption violates a woman’s fundamental rights and leaves married women vulnerable to sexual violence without any legal recourse. They emphasise that this exemption denies women the autonomy over their own bodies and reinforces outdated patriarchal notions that treat wives as the property of their husbands. The latest ruling has reignited calls for legislative reforms to remove this legal loophole and criminalise marital rape in India, a demand that successive governments have consistently resisted.
Several women’s rights groups have planned protests and petitions to challenge the decision, urging the central government to reconsider its stance on the issue. Meanwhile, the acquitted man has been released from jail following the court's order, a move that has further intensified the debate over the need for urgent judicial and legislative intervention to protect the rights of married women in India.
