CJI Chandrachud-led bench defers hearing on pleas against immunity to husbands in marital rape cases
New Delhi (PTI): Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, who is demitting office on November 10, Wednesday deferred hearing by four weeks on pleas challenging the immunity granted to husbands in cases of marital rape.
The CJI said he will not be able to conclude the hearing and render the verdict if the hearing does not conclude before the top court closes for Diwali vacation.
Justice Chandrachud said all the lawyers concerned have to be given time sought for making the submissions in the matter.
The bench, also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, fixed the pleas for hearing after four weeks by another bench.
It commenced the hearing on October 17. The Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) grant immunity from prosecution to a husband for the offence of rape if he forces his wife, who is not a minor, to have sex with him.
Under the exception clause of Section 375 of the IPC, now replaced by the BNS, sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his wife, the wife not being minor, is not rape.
Even under the new law, exception 2 to Section 63 (rape) says that "sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under eighteen years of age, is not rape".
The Centre said in a fast-growing and ever-changing social and family structure, misuse of the amended provisions could not be ruled out as it would be difficult for a person to prove whether consent was there or not.
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Gujarat cops file theft case against jailed scribe Langa after recovery of govt documents from him
Ahmedabad (PTI): The Gujarat police have registered a theft case against senior journalist Mahesh Langa, who is already behind bars in an alleged Goods and Services Tax scam, following the recovery of some documents of the Gujarat Maritime Board from him, an official said.
This is the second First Information Report (FIR) registered against Langa after his arrest earlier this month by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch in the alleged GST scam.
Langa, who worked with a leading newspaper in Gujarat, was sent to judicial custody last week after his remand in the GST case came to an end.
"The second FIR was registered on Tuesday night at Sector 7 police station in Gandhinagar city," District Superintendent of Police Ravi Teja Vasamsetty said on Wednesday.
The online FIR is not accessible to the public as it has been put under "sensitive" category, he said.
Sources said that Langa and an unidentified employee of the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) have been booked on the charges of theft and under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
"During the investigation, the Ahmedabad police recovered some official documents of the GMB from his possession. Since these documents are government property, the board officials approached us and lodged a complaint against Langa and an unidentified employee of the GMB (who gave him documents)," the SP added.
Meanwhile, the Ahmedabad crime branch on Tuesday arrested five more persons in connection with its ongoing probe into the GST fraud case, a release by the crime branch said.
With this, the crime branch has so far arrested 14 persons, including Langa, after the registration of an FIR earlier this month.
The crime branch on October 7 registered the FIR against several persons and entities after getting a complaint from central GST over an alleged scam of floating bogus firms with an intent to defraud the government by availing bogus input tax credit through fraudulent transactions, a release by the Crime Branch said.
