Chhattisgarh High Court: Unconsented sexual acts by a husband with his wife are not considered an offense under Section 377 of the IPC.
The Chhattisgarh High Court has determined that non-consensual anal sex or any other non-consensual sexual act by a husband against his adult wife is not an offense under Section 375 or Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The Court stated that Indian law does not recognize marital rape, referring to Exception 2 of Section 375, which indicates that sexual acts by a man with his wife are not considered rape if the wife is over 15 years old. Justice Narendra Kumar Vyas, in his ruling, noted, “If a husband engages in unnatural sex as defined in Section 377 with his wife, it cannot be classified as an offense.”
Advocate Raj Kumar Pali represented the Appellant, while Advocate Pramod Shrivastava (Dy. GA) represented the Respondent-State. The case involved a man convicted of rape (Section 375 IPC), unnatural offense (Section 377 IPC), and causing death by negligence (Section 304 IPC) after allegedly inserting his hand into his wife’s rectum, which led to her death. The deceased had made a dying declaration claiming she fell ill due to an unnatural act by her husband. However, some witnesses changed their statements, and the Executive Magistrate who recorded the dying declaration confirmed that the deceased mentioned the incident, but it was not included in the official record. Despite this, the trial court found Sharma guilty and sentenced him to 10 years in prison based on the dying declaration. Sharma later appealed his conviction to the High Court.
The High Court reviewed Sections 375 and 377 of the IPC and made the following decisions:
- Exception 2 of Section 375 IPC states that sexual intercourse between a husband and wife is not considered rape, even if there is no consent.
- Since rape under Section 375 involves penetration into the vagina, urethra, or anus, acts between a husband and wife do not qualify as rape and cannot be seen as unnatural offenses under Section 377.
- The dying declaration did not have supporting evidence, which was not enough to convict the accused.
- The conviction under Section 304 IPC was found to be unreasonable and illegal, as the trial court did not prove how the offense applied in this case.
The Bench noted that if the wife is over 15 years old, any sexual act by the husband cannot be classified as rape, and the lack of consent for unnatural acts is not significant. Therefore, the Court concluded that charges under Sections 376 and 377 of the IPC against the appellant were not valid. Based on these conclusions, the Court cleared Sharma of all charges. The appeal was granted, and the accused was acquitted of charges under Sections 376, 377, and 304 of the IPC. It was stated that if the appellant is in jail, he should be released immediately unless needed for another case, and any fines paid should be refunded to him.
Cause List: Gorakhnth Sharma v. State of Chhattisgarh [Neutral Citation No. 2025:CGHC:7365]
