The bench presided by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and also comprising Justice V Mohana said this in the context of the March 2022 ruling of Karnataka High Court that a husband, who forces non-consensual sex on his wife, can be prosecuted under the relevant penal provision.
The court said it will start the final hearing on the petitions after three weeks and asked the parties to submit their papers in the meanwhile.
“Where there is a clear definition and an exception under Section 375, the issue is about the remit of that exception…One is the safety and security of married women…We fully appreciate the submission that there is no question of marriage resulting in a union of individual autonomy. Point well taken. Now see the law as it stands. It is a penal law. And therefore, rightly or wrongly, before a constitutional court renders a verdict that the exception was unreasonable or manifestly arbitrary, can we permit a prosecution on that score?,” said Justice Joymalya Bagchi, who was part of a three-judge bench hearing a clutch of petitions challenging the exception.