Independent Thought v Union of India and Ors

Court: The Supreme Court of India

Bench: Madan B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta, JJ.

Facts

The Petitioner, a registered society, working in the area of child rights, filed a petition under Article 32 of the Constitution, in public interest with a view to draw attention to the violation of the rights of married girls, between the ages of 15 and 18 years.

The Petitioner contends that almost every statute in India recognizes a girl below 18 years of age as a child and thus the law penalizes sexual intercourse with a girl below 18 years of age. Consequently, Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) prescribes the age of consent for sexual intercourse as 18 years. Therefore, having sexual intercourse with a girl child below 18 years of age would be statutory rape, even if the sexual activity was with her consent- as willingness or consent of a woman below the age of 18 years for having sexual intercourse is irrelevant as she is considered incapable of giving consent. However, by virtue of Exception 2 to Section 375 of the IPC, if a girl child between 15 and 18 years of age is married, her husband can have non-consensual sexual intercourse with her, without being penalized under the IPC, for the sole reason that she is married to him. Hence, the present petition.

Issues

Whether Exception 2 to Section 375 of the IPC, in so far as it relates to girls aged 15 to 18 years, was unconstitutional under Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution of India and liable to be struck down.

Application:

Article 21 of the Constitution gives the fundamental right to a girl child to live a life of dignity. Child marriage in a sense takes away from this and subjects the girl child to sexual abuse. The right to maintain her bodily integrity is compromised under Exception 2 of Section 375 of the

IPC- effectively giving the husband full control over her body by giving him the power to subject her to sexual intercourse without her consent or without her willingness since such an activity would not be rape.

Exception 2 to Section 375 Indian Penal Code is held to be discriminatory and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India, in so far as it deals with the girl child. The said law discriminates between a girl child aged less than 18 years, who may be educated and has sexual intercourse with her consent and a girl child who may be married even before the age of 15 years, but her marriage has been consummated after 15 years even against her consent. This artificial distinction is contrary to the philosophy and ethos of Articles 15(3) and 21 of the Constitution, is inconsistent with other statutes and also goes against and India’s commitments in international conventions.

Conclusion

In its judgement, the Supreme Court held that the Exception 2 to Section 375 of the IPC (in so far as it relates to a girl child below 18 years) was liable to be struck down as it was violative of Article 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution of India as it was arbitrary and not fair, just and reasonable towards the rights of the girl child;