Delhi court shocker: Forced intercourse in marriage isn’t rape!

The complainant wife claimed accused Vikash had drugged her and took her to the office of the registrar of marriages in Ghaziabad, where their marriage was solemnised. ‘He got the marriage documents signed by her on 4 March, 2013. Later, Vikash raped her and then abandoned her,’ said the prosecution.

However, the accused claimed that upon insistence of the victim, they decided to get their marriage registered and accordingly, they met at Dwarka More Metro Station on 4 March 2013, went to Ghaziabad court and got their marriage registered. ‘From the court, he (Vikash) took her to his house where she stayed with him for eight days. Thereafter, she went to her parental house to complete her course which she was pursuing. When Vikash came to take her back, her brother demanded Rs 60,000 from him, which he refused to pay,’ the defence counsel claimed.

However, the real import of the verdict came when the court said though the sex was forced, but it did not come in the ambit of rape since the accused and the victim are husband and wife. Additional sessional judge Virendra Bhat noticed that victim had not stated in her complaint about the effect of intoxicant which the accused, along with his father, administered to her at the time of marriage. ‘She does not say whether she was conscious while signing the marriage related documents or was in any kind of intoxicated state,’ said ASJ Bhat.

Vikash also alleged that his wife framed him in the rape case after he expressed his inability to get his sister’s house transferred in his name. ‘On 23 September 2013, my wife asked me to ask Anju (my sister), to transfer her house on my name and when I expressed inability to do so, I was framed in this case,’ said Vikash.

The court, while acquitting Vikash, said that there is nothing on record proving that the accused had administered any intoxicant in the drink consumed by the victim before taking her to the Ghaziabad court. ‘Hence the prosecutrix  (the wife) and the accused (Vikash) being legally wedded husband and wife and the prosecutrix being major, the sexual intercourse between the two, even if forcible, is not rape and no culpability can be fastened upon the accused,’ said the court.