Sexual relations with minor wife and legal issues

Reference:

According to a recent judgment of the Bombay High Court, sexual relations with a minor wife below the age of 18 years fall under the category of the crime of rape, whether the relationship is consensual or not.

About the recent case:

• The recent case before the Bombay High Court was related to sexual relations between a minor woman and her adult husband after entering into a false marriage.
• In this case, the husband refused to accept the validity of the marriage after the woman became pregnant and pressurized the woman to have an abortion. Due to this, the aggrieved minor woman had to go to the court.
• In this case, the accused was sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment by the Sessions Court under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on the grounds of having sexual relations with a minor.
• The High Court has upheld this sentence in its recent decision.

About child marriage:

• According to the 2023-24 report of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), more than 11 lakh children in India are at risk of child marriage.
  • Of these, more than 5 lakh children are at risk in Uttar Pradesh alone.
• Although it is illegal under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, this practice continues in many states.
• Child marriage violates the human rights of children provided under the 'United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child' as well as hinders their development.
  • In the year 1989, India ratified the 'United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child'.
• Child marriage is like imposing a marriage partner on children or adolescents who are not ready and mature enough for it and are unable to understand the importance of marriage.
• Their development is hampered due to being deprived of freedom, opportunity for personal development and other rights including health and well-being, education and participation in civic life.

Negative consequences of child marriage on women:

• Pregnancy at an early age
• Increase in maternal and newborn mortality rate
• Child health problems
• Educational barriers
• Lower employment/livelihood prospects
• Facing violence and abuse
• Negative physical and psychological consequences
• Limited ability to make decisions about one's life

Bombay High Court decision:

• According to the High Court, sexual relations with a minor wife is rape and the marital rape exception does not apply in such a situation. 
  • Marital rape exception is the law laid down by the Supreme Court, under which the husband appealed that sexual intercourse with his wife is not rape or sexual assault.
• The Court clarified in its judgment that sexual intercourse with a girl child/woman below 18 years of age is rape, whether she is married or not.
• The defence of consensual sexual intercourse with a wife is not available when the wife or girl child, alleged to be wife, is below 18 years of age.
• The High Court thus affirmed the judgment of the Supreme Court in ‘Independent Thought vs Union of India & Ors’, wherein the marital rape exception under the Indian Penal Code will not apply to wives below 18 years of age.