Marital Rape Good Ground To Claim Divorce, Says Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court bench of Justice A Muhamed Mustaque and Justice Kauser Edappagath said time has come to recast marriage law of the country.

Treating wife's body as something owing to the husband and committing sexual act against her will is marital rape, the Kerala High Court has said. The observation came while the court dismissed two appeals filed by a man challenging the decision of a family court granting divorce. A bench of the High Court, comprising Justice A Muhamed Mustaque and Justice Kauser Edappagath, said marriage and divorce must be under the secular law and time has come to recast the marriage law of the country. "Merely for the reason that the law does not recognise marital rape under penal law, it does not inhibit the court from recognising the same as a form of cruelty to grant divorce. We, therefore, are of the view that marital rape is a good ground to claim divorce," the bench said.