Is Sex with an underage wife Rape?

The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday ruled that a man is committing rape if he engages in sexual intercourse with his wife who is aged between 15 and 18. How logically sound this Supreme Court ruling is? To know the answer of this question we must first understand what ‘rape’ is. An online dictionary of law defines rape as the crime of sexual intercourse (with actual penetration of a woman’s vagina with the man’s penis) without consent and accomplished through force, threat of violence or intimidation (such as a threat to harm a woman’s child, husband or boyfriend). This means, a rape basically is a violation of others’ bodily property right. It is an initiation of aggression against others’ private (bodily) property. Any case of such initiation of aggression re sexual intercourse is a rape no matter what the age of the person whose bodily property is violated is. The age factor is irrelevant here.

The ruling of Supreme Court is purely arbitrary and illogical having no basis in any sound legal principle. Why only wife between 15 and 18 years old? What if the wife is 18 years and 1 day old? What if she is 19 years or 20 years old? In any case of rape the only thing the court has to decide is whether any kind of sexual aggression has took place or not without looking at the age of the victim or aggressor. A rape is a rape. A sexual aggression against an 80 year old wife is also a rape and 16 year wife is also a rape. The Supreme Court is unduly complicating the matter and the law. By doing this, they are inviting all kinds of troubles for people who will get falsely accused of rapes in future.
The fact of the matter is, in India the judiciary system lacks any basis of sound legal principle. Whatever principles they are using are all arbitrary subjective values of the judicial body members.

The state judiciary system functions like this only everywhere. Their goal is not of producing ‘Justice’ for the victims, but to endlessly complicate matters so that the institution of state and its organs like the justice system can be perpetuated indefinitely. As long as the state is in charge of the judiciary system, there is no hope for the victims of getting ‘Justice’.