marital rape +NEW DELHI: In a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court SC ) on Wednesday ruled that sex with a wife who is under 18 years of age is rape and therefore a crime.The top court did not rule on 'marital rape', which is sexual intercourse forced upon a spouse no matter what their age.Before today's SC ruling, there was an exception in Section 375 rape law provisions that protected a man who had sexual relations with his wife even if she was under 18, which is the age of consent. "Economic and educational development in the country is still uneven and child marriages are still taking place. It has been therefore decided to retain the age of 15 years under Exception 2 so as to give protection to husband and wife against criminalising the sexual activity between them. It is also estimated that there are 23 million child brides in the country. Hence, criminalising the consummation of a marriage with such a serious offence such as rape would not be appropriate and practical," the Centre had said.As per the National Family Health Survey, 46 per cent of women between the ages of 18-29 years were married before the age of 18.

Source: Times of India October 11, 2017 05:26 UTC