SC to examine constitutional validity of marital rape exception under IPC, BNS

The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to examine the constitutional validity of the marital rape exception under Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which provides that sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife do not constitute rape. The Court will also hear an appeal against a March 2022 judgment of the Karnataka High Court which refused to quash rape charges against a husband accused of sexually assaulting his wife. The development came while the Court was hearing a batch of petitions, including PILs filed by separate petitioners, challenging the constitutional validity of Exception 2 to Section 375 IPC. The pet…