Supreme Court

The lawyer for Independent Thought argued that the law provided little help to child brides forced to live in sexually abusive marriages.

“Law gives them remedy to complain if they are physically assaulted but not if they are sexually abused,” Agarwal said.

The order comes at a time when the Delhi high court is hearing petitions calling for marital rape to be declared a crime. But the SC judges said their judgment didn’t deal with marital rape.

The verdict would have prospective effect and have no bearing on marriages already solemnised, the court said, addressing concerns of the government.

Defending the rape law exception, the government told the court during a previous hearing that India had 23 million child brides and criminalising the “consummation of the marriages” as rape wouldn’t be appropriate.

The court upbraided the government for failing to enforce the prohibition of child marriage act strictly and for not criminalising a man’s sexual intercourse with his wife aged 18 or below.

“What has the government of India done? It has persuaded Parliament to convert what is otherwise universally accepted as a heinous crime into a legitimate activity for the purposes of Section 375 of the IPC if exploiter or abuser is the husband of the girl child.”

The court drew support from government surveys and reports to hold child marriages not only posed a risk to a girl’s health but also promoted trafficking.

Studies, it said, revealed high rate of death among pregnant teenagers and they were subjected to three times more marital rape compared to adult women.

“Should this traditional practice still continue? We do not think so and the sooner it is given up, it would be in the best interest