A victim of marital sexual abuse cannot be discriminated against only because she is the wife of the offender and has to be treated as any other rape victim, a city court has observed while denying bail to a man accused of sodomising his pregnant wife.
The court said though the legislature is yet to take “serious note” of rampant cases of marital sexual abuse which the women in the country suffer silently, it does not mean that “a battered wife, who has been sexually abused and has invoked the legal system, is not entitled to any State assistance which is already available to other victims”. Additional Sessions Judge Kamini lau directed the Delhi Government to take responsibility and take care of the woman, a resident of Keshav Puram, who has lodged a case against her husband for allegedly forcing her to establish sexual relations with him against the order of nature after consuming alcohol even when she was pregnant. While refusing to grant bail to the man, the court noted, “How can such a person be treated with leniency and that too when his wife who has suffered this torture for more than nine years is in an advanced stage of pregnancyIJ Allegations made against him are serious. At this stage, his release is neither advisable nor warranted. Merely because the victim now wants the accused to be out does not mean that the court is obligated to oblige. The application for grant of bail is hereby dismissed,” the judge said.
The court, however, said the woman was present before it despite her advanced stage of pregnancy along with the advocate for the accused and this showed she was under extreme pressure of her in-laws with whom she was staying. It also pulled up the police for invoking Section 498A (husband or his relative subjecting woman to cruelty) of IPC on the man even though there were specific allegations that he used to harass and mistreat her since the time they got married.
The court directed the Joint Commissioner of Police (Range) to intervene and ensure that an inquiry relating to psychological assessment and financial destitution of the victim is conducted and also sent a copy of its order to the Commissioner of Police for information and appropriate action.