A husband forcing his wife to have sex with him, despite her unwillingness is wrong, the judge said.
However, when a woman decides to marry a man, she consciously and willingly enters into a relation in which sex is an integral part and the woman gives her husband the right to expect meaningful conjugal relations, Justice Shankar opined.
“If, therefore, the man, in such a situation, requests her, on a particular occasion to have sex, he is exercising a right that vests in him by marriage, and requests his wife to discharge an obligation which, too, devolves on her by marriage,” the judgment said.
Thus, the same cannot be equated with that of rape by a stranger, it was held.
“If the wife refuses, and the husband, nonetheless, has sex with her, howsoever one may disapprove the act, it cannot be equated with the act of ravishing by a stranger. Nor can the impact on the wife, in such a situation, be equated with the impact of a woman who is raped by a stranger,” the judgment stated.
Source: Barandbench
