The petitions before the Court challenge the exception provided in Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code exempting non-consensual sex between husband and wife from the ambit of rape.
The High Court only has to address the historic and extreme injustice that has been done to married women as a result of the marital rape exception, Gonsalves said.
An affidavit filed by the MHA said that the issues involved here are not only about constitutionality of a provision but has far-reaching socio-legal implications across the country.
The marital rape exception is unconstitutional because it places the primacy of the institution of marriage above the primacy of individuals, Karuna Nundy told the Delhi High Court.
Justice C Hari Shankar of the Delhi High Court expressed the prima facie view that criminalising marital rape would amount to creation of a new offence.