India: Sex with child brides ruled as rape by Supreme Court

The ruling smacks down a previous clause allowing men to have sex with wives aged 15 and over

The Indian Supreme Court building in New Delhi (Getty)

India’s Supreme Court has made a landmark ruling over men having sex with child brides, stating that sexual intercourse with wives under the age of 18 is rape.

The age of consent in India is 18. The ruling refers to a clause in India’s law on rape, which previously stated men could have sex with their child brides who are aged 15 and over, the BBC reports.

Girls under 18 who are raped by their husbands will be able to bring charges against them up to a year after the crime.

Marital rape is not a crime in India, but sex with a child under the age of 18 in any circumstance is considered rape by the courts.

The clause that allowed men to have sex with child brides over the age of 15 was challenged by human rights organisation Independent Thought, NDTV reports, to end the disparity in the law.

"If a man has sexual intercourse with a wife who is below 18 years, it is an offence. The minor wife can complain against the husband within one year," the court ruled.

"Exception in rape law is discriminatory, capricious and arbitrary... It violates bodily integrity of the girl child," the court added.

Independent Thought founder Vikram Srivastava told the BBC: “This is a landmark judgement that corrects a historical wrong against girls. How could marriage be used as a criteria to discriminate against girls?”