A Delhi court has acquitted a man accused of raping his wife and has ruled that forced sex does not amount to rape if the couple is married.
In October 2013, a 21-year-old Delhi woman filed a complaint at the Baba Haridas Nagar police station, southwest Delhi, alleging that the accused, an Uttar Pradesh resident, came in contact with her while working at a coaching centre in Delhi. She further told the police that the man and his father drugged her and abducted to Ghaziabad, UP, where they registered the marriage at the registrar's office.
The girl also accused the man of raping her and threatened her not to reveal the incident to anybody.
However, the accused had claimed that the couple was married at the woman's house in Delhi in 2011 and decided to register the marriage only last year. He also alleged that the rape complaint against him was filed by the woman under pressure from her family members, who were against the marriage, reported the New York Times.
When the case came up for court hearing, the judge turned down the allegations by the woman citing that there was no convincing evidence on record that the accused had administered any stupefying substance before taking her to Ghaziabad.
The judge also acquitted the accused citing that even if had forced intercourse with the woman, it would not be a crime under the Indian law. "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", the court ruled, reported The Telegraph.
