The High Court order rendered by Justice M Nagaprasanna came in an appeal filed by the husband against a sessions judge order framing charges of rape against him.
In its order upholding the charges, the High Court had said that the institution of marriage cannot be used to confer any special male privilege or a license for unleashing of a “brutal beast” on the wife.
While upholding the charge of rape against the husband, the Court noted that it is not pronouncing on whether marital rape should be recognized as an offence, and that it was concerned only with the charge of rape being framed against the husband in the present case.
In the present case, after a few years of living together, the relationship of the couple had become strained. After he repeatedly inflicted physical and mental torture on his wife and his child, the wife registered a complaint against the husband for offences punishable under Sections 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) 498A (cruelty to wife) 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) 377 (Unnatural offences) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 10 (aggravated sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO).
Source: Barandbench
