Indian Man Freed After Conviction for Marital Rape Overturned

A man in India, who was previously convicted and jailed for raping his wife, has been released by a judge. The judge's decision was based on the existing laws in India, which do not recognize marital rape as a crime.

The man was initially convicted of rape, "unnatural" sex, and culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2019. His wife, a minor, had made a dying declaration accusing him of forced sex and resulting injuries. She died in the hospital on the same day.

However, the Chhattisgarh High Court overturned the conviction, citing the country's laws on forced sexual acts within marriage. The judge ruled that sexual intercourse between a husband and wife, where the wife is above 15 years of age, cannot be considered rape, regardless of consent. This interpretation appears to contradict a landmark Supreme Court ruling from 2017, which raised the age of marital rape from 15 to 18.

The defense argued that there was no admissible evidence against the accused, and the conviction was solely based on the wife's dying declaration. They also disputed the cause of death, claiming that the woman had suffered from piles since her first childbirth, which caused bleeding and abdominal pain.

The Indian government has previously opposed calls to classify non-consensual sexual acts within marriage as rape, arguing that it could negatively impact conjugal relationships and destabilize the institution of marriage. The government believes that while a husband should not violate his wife's consent, labeling such an act as "rape" would be excessively harsh and disproportionate.