rape
Rape is defined in s.63 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (old s.375 IPC). The definition is wide: penetration of the vagina, mouth, urethra or anus by the penis, insertion of any object or body part, manipulation to cause penetration, or application of the mouth, done in any of seven circumstances, including against her will, without her consent, with consent obtained by fear or deceit as to identity, when she is intoxicated or of unsound mind, or when she is under eighteen (whatever her consent). Consent means an unequivocal voluntary agreement; mere lack of physical resistance is not consent.
Punishment is in s.64 BNS (old s.376), with aggravated forms and gang rape in later sections. Exception 2 excludes intercourse by a man with his own wife who is not under eighteen; the age of eighteen follows Independent Thought. Indian law treats rape as an offence by a man against a woman only.
Example
Since the prosecutrix was sixteen, her consent was irrelevant and the act was rape under s.63 BNS.
In Indian law
- Sections 63 and 64, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (old ss.375 and 376 IPC)
- Independent Thought v. Union of India, 2017 INSC 1030: marital exception read down so that intercourse with a wife under 18 is rape
See also
free consent · presumption · assault
Read more in the study notes
- Definitions, classification of offences, and the courts, prosecution and police under the BNSS (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
- Initiation of a criminal case: FIR, Zero FIR, preliminary enquiry, investigation and complaint (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
- Arrest: concept, procedure, safeguards, proclamation and handcuffing (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
- Bail, anticipatory bail and bonds (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
- Trial before a Court of Session (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
- Jurisdiction in inquiries and trials, evidence, and general provisions as to inquiries and trials (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)