New Delhi ,March 31: In an effort to curb child marriages, the government intends to remove a sub-section of the Criminal Procedure Code which is considered a major obstacle in the way of taking action in cases of marital rape of a wife below 15 years of age.
The Union law and justice ministry has proposed to delete sub-section 6 of Section 198, CrPC.
The sub-section states, “No court shall take cognisance of an offence under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code, where such offence consists of sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife, the wife being under fifteen years of age, if more than one year has elapsed from the date of the commission of the offence.”
It essentially means that husbands having sexual intercourse with wives who are under 15 years of age could get away if the offence wasn’t reported for one year.
Official sources stated that once the sub-section is deleted, the police will be able to book a husband if he has sexual intercourse with his wife and she is under fifteen years of age even if more than a year elapses from the date of the commission of the offence.
The discussion on the issue of deletion of sub-section 6 of Section 198 of the CrPC has already been initiated between the Union ministry of home affairs and Union law and justice ministry.
An official letter seeking the opinion of state governments on the issue is soon likely to be issued by the ministry of home affairs, the sources added.
The step was initiated after demands from various child rights and women’s rights groups. “The government wants to seek the opinion of the states as the subject pertains to the Concurrent List,” official sources pointed out. The law minister is also understood to support an amendment to the relevant provisions of the Evidence Act.
Union law and justice minister M. Veerappa Moily has already expressed his desire to change outdated laws in the country during the tenure of UPA-2 and sources stated that the present initiative was another step towards wider legal reforms.
Nitin Mahajan