"Can You Call It Rape?": Supreme Court On Marital Rape

Marital rape: The Supreme Court on March 1, 2021, stayed the arrest of a man accused of rape by his former partner.

The courted asked “however brutal the husband is, when two people (are) living as husband and wife, can sexual intercourse between them be called rape?"

The Supreme Court heard a petition filed by Vinay Pratap Singh, who was accused of rape by a woman who was in a relationship with him for two years. In an FIR filed in 2019, the woman alleged rape because Singh had told her he would marry her but had wed another person earlier that year. The court also stressed that nobody could make ‘false promises’ to lead another into marriage, and stated that such an act was ‘wrong’.

The Chief Justice of India, SA Bobde stated that "Making false promise (of) marriage is wrong. No one should give false promise - either man or woman. Even women should not give promise.” Chief Justice Bobde added that “If a man and woman are living together, however insincerely as man and wife, the man may be brutal and may do many wrongs (but) can you call it rape?"

In his petition, Singh asked that the FIR be quashed as during their relationship, the couple has sexual intercourse on the basis of consent. This was refuted by the woman’s lawyer, who argued that Singh promised to marry her and that a marriage ceremony was held at a temple. The lawyer also claimed that Singh brutally abused the woman and provided medical records as evidence.

Singh was granted protection from arrest for eight weeks and directed that he apply for regular bail. The court was going to grant bail till the trail court was settled the case, but the woman’s lawyer objected to it.