Delhi HC to Centre – “Make up your mind on marital rape”
Delhi HC to Centre – “Make up your mind on marital rape”
New Delhi, Feb. 2 (Delhi Crown): A two-judge bench of the Delhi High Court has taken the Centre to task for not revealing its stance on the issue of marital rape.
The Centre has said in the past that India needs to proceed with caution on the issue of marital rape and not follow other countries blindly on it.
Passing a stricture of sorts, Justices Rajiv Shakdher and C. Hari Shankar ordered the counsel representing the Centre to tell his client that it was high time they made up their mind on the stand they want to take on the issue of “marital rape”.
“There are only two ways of closing this issue. One is the legislative route, the other is a court decision. There is no third way. You tell us if you want to stick to the position that you have taken in the counter (affidavit) or you will change it. If you want to change it, you must let us know,” the high court bench said on Tuesday.
Currently, the Centre’s stance is that it will be relooking at the affidavits that it has submitted so far on the issue before the court. According to Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, who was representing the Centre, these affidavits date back to 2015 and, therefore, there is a need to review them before presenting them in court again.
Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, representing one of the petitioners, however, said that the Centre’s latest submissions were filed on January 12 this year.
The court also instructed advocate Karuna Nundy to make her submissions on the basis of the Centre’s stand on record.
