On Friday, a Delhi high court bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar satisfied itself – after listening to Supreme Court advocate Gaurav Agrawal – that the challenge to decriminalisation of marital rape, which it is currently hearing, does not overlap with a similar matter on which the Supreme Court concluded hearing and reserved its judgment on Wednesday, although both involved the same provision – exception 2 to Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code.

Agrawal convinced the bench that the petitioner, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) Independent Thought – for which he is the counsel – confined its challenge only to the difference in age limits between sixthly of Section 375 and the exception 2.

Sub-clause Sixthly of Section 375 gives one of the seven circumstances of rape as sexual intercourse or sexual acts with a woman with or without her consent, when she is under 18 years of age.

Marital Rape and Child Marriage: Two Sides Of The Same Coin – The Wire