Nagpur: Consensual sex with a minor wife is considered rape, according to the Bombay High Court, and the law does not accept this as a legal defense. While sustaining a 10-year sentence for a man against whom his wife had filed a rape charge, the Nagpur Bench of the High Court made this statement.
Specifying that the age of consent is above 18 years old, a bench of Justice GA Sanap said, “It needs to be stated that sexual intercourse with a girl below 18 years of age is rape, regardless of whether she is married or not.”
The High Court stressed, “The defense of consensual sex with the wife is not available when the age of the wife or the girl, who is alleged to be the wife, is below 18 years of age.”
According to the case details, the victim became pregnant as a result of the man’s forced sexual relations with her. He married her later. Unfortunately, their marriage deteriorated, and the wife decided to file a complaint against him. “Even if it is assumed for the sake of argument that there was a so-called marriage between them, in view of the allegations made by the victim that it was sexual intercourse against her consent, it would constitute rape,” the High Court said.
When the victim resided with her father, sisters, and grandmother in the Wardha of Maharashtra, the accused was her neighbor. Prior to the 2019 allegation, the accused and the survivor had been engaged for 3-4 years. However, the survivor had continuously rejected the accused’s efforts for intimate contact.
The charges state that the accused first arranged a “farce marriage” ceremony in a rented apartment with some neighbors present, promising to marry the survivor. But he started acting rudely toward her, physically attacking her and pressuring her to have an abortion. He later claimed she had a child with another man.
The accused defended himself by asserting that the survivor was his wife and that the sexual relationship was consensual. However, Justice Sanap observed, “In my view, this submission cannot be accepted for more than one reason. In this case, the prosecution has proved that the victim on the date of commission of the crime was below 18 years of age”.
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