An Indian court failed to deliver a verdict in a case seeking to outlaw marital rape after two judges expressed opposing views.
One judge struck down an exception in a British-era law that says a man cannot be prosecuted for rape within marriage.
But the second judge refused to modify Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code which says sex “by a man with his own wife” who’s not a minor is not rape.
The case is now expected to be appealed in the Supreme Court.
Over the years, more than 100 countries have outlawed marital rape – including Britain in 1991.
But the law remains on the statute books in India, with the idea for the exception rooted in the belief that consent for sex is “implied” in marriage and that a wife cannot retract it later.
Campaigners, however, say that forced sex is rape, regardless of who commits it.
In a 2017 affidavit in the court, the Indian government said that criminalising marital rape could have a “destabilising effect on the institution of marriage”.
“What may appear to be marital rape to a wife may not appear so to others,” the government said, adding that removing the exception may provide “an easy tool for harassing husbands”.
Source: Marital rape: Delhi high court gives split verdict – BBC News