'Trishanku' Centre delays verdict on marital rape

With the Centre dilly dallying on the matter, the court on Monday put its foot down and refused to delay the matter any further.

Wrapping up a marathon proceeding of continuous 20 days on a batch of Public Interest Litigations, a bench of Justices Rajiv Shakdher and C Hari Shankar said, "We are closing it."

The stern statement by the bench came as the Centre once again said it would make its stand clear only after consulting its stakeholders, including all states, union territories and National Commission for Women.

The court said it was prepared to go by the arguments made by the Union Government in an affidavit earlier on similar litigations.

Justice Shakdher observed the court cannot be expected to wait endlessly, just because the Centre was not ready to "bite the bullet".

Calling the Centre "Trishanku", the high court said, "You have to take a stand this way or that."

The court reserved its judgment on the matter on Monday.

A decisive executive has to say 'yes' or 'no', said Justice Shakdher, and added that except for the Centre all other stakeholders have completed their arguments on the matter.

“A decisive executive has to say Yes or No. No one stops you from changing your stand…Tell us when you want to start. You argue on law. There are no facts as such in this matter,” he told Mehta.

The bench took a strong view as there appeared to be no terminal date by when the Centre's consultations would end.

The remarks came after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said letters to all states and union territories were already sent and it was awaiting their inputs.

Asked by the court if Mehta would like to argue the matter on behalf of the Centre, the SG said as "the issue has very far-reaching socio-legal implication across the country so a meaningful consultative process" was imperative.

On Feb 7, the high court granted two weeks' time to Centre to take a stand on criminalisation of marital rape.

Senior advocates Colin Gonsalves and amicus Rebecca John and Rajshekhar Rao had already argued that the dignity of married and unmarried women can't be differentiated and also asserted irrespective of the marital status, every woman has the right to say 'no' to a non-consensual sexual act.