NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday assured the petitioners that it would hear on Thursday the batch of pleas challenging the marital rape exception under the new criminal laws.Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for one of the petitioners, the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), in the marital rape case, requested that the top court give due importance to the issue.She said this to the top court bench, led by the Chief Justice of India (CJI), D Y Chandrachud, after keeping in view the fact that the bench would be taking up a lengthy income tax matter for the day on Tuesday. The marital rape case was listed as item number two on the board for hearing, but as the tax case would be taking the entire day for the hearing, it prompted Jaising to mention it for listing it as soon as possible. “Regarding item 2 (marital rape matter), we would greatly appreciate it if you could give it some priority,” she told the apex court bench. There were a batch of pleas pending in the top court the for hearing, including the plea of AIDWA challenging the marital rape exception under the new criminal laws.After hearing from Jaising, the CJI assured her, “If we could not take it up for hearing today, then we would have it tomorrow or the day after.”The two-judge bench of the Delhi High Court on May 12, 2022, pronounced a split judgement on the issue related to criminalising marital rape.Delhi HC’s Judge Justice Rajiv Shakdher ruled in favour of criminalising it, while Justice C Hari Shankar disagreed with the opinion and held that Exception 2 to Section 375 does not violate the Constitution as it is based on intelligible differences.After this, many petitions were filed before the Supreme Court, seeking appropriate directions.
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