With CJI retiring soon, Apex Court defers hearing on pleas for criminalising marital rape by 4 weeks

New Delhi: Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, who is demitting office on November 10, Wednesday deferred by four weeks the hearing on pleas challenging the immunity granted to husbands in cases of marital rape.

At the outset, a bench comprising the CJI and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, which commenced final hearing on October 17 on the pleas, asked lawyers about the time they would be needing individually to argue.

Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for a party, said he will take at least a day to complete his submissions as he did not want to stifle the elaborate pleadings needed to be advanced in an important matter like this.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, senior advocates Rakesh Dwivedi, who represents Maharashtra, and Indira Jaising, representing a woman, also said they would need a day each to argue.

The Apex Court, which is closing for Diwali vacation on October 26, reopens on November 4 and the CJI will be effectively left with five working days to hear and deliver a verdict on one of the most sensitive issues.

The CJI said if arguments cannot be completed this week, then it would be difficult for him to decide before he demits office on November 10.

“In view of the time estimate, we are of the view that it would not be possible to complete the hearings in the foreseeable future,” the court said, adding the pleas be listed before another bench after four weeks.

“We have deep regret. We wanted to continue here,” Sankaranarayanan said.

The solicitor general said the Centre’s stand is that marriage does not obliterate the concept of sexual consent, but at the same time criminalising marital rape would require assessment of the case from different perspectives.

Senior advocate Karuna Nundy, appearing for a petitioner, said the plea was about millions of women in the country and there was “great urgency”.

She urged the CJI to continue with the hearing and deliver a judgement as he has a legacy of rendering “very important judgments”.

“Your lordship’s legacy will remain forever. Let us not ridicule it by saying,” the solicitor general said.

On October 17, the bench said it will decide the constitutional validity of penal provisions in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) which grant immunity from prosecution to a husband for the offence of rape if he forces his wife, who is not a minor, to have sex with him.