SC refutes Karnataka High Court’s notion that sexual contact with dead body equals to rape

The Supreme Court on February 4 ruled that engaging in sexual acts with a deceased body does not constitute rape under the Indian Penal Code provisions.

Karnataka high court decision

As per a report by Live Law, the bench, comprising Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, upheld a Karnataka High Court decision that acquitted an individual of rape charges after he had sexual intercourse with the corpse of a 21-year-old woman, who he had murdered.The court observed that since the Penal Laws don't acknowledge Necrophilia as an offence, it cannot intervene with the High Court's part acquittal order.

The Karnataka High Court, represented by Additional Advocate General of Karnataka, Aman Panwar contended that the term 'body' under Section 375(c) of the IPC should encompass a dead body. He further added that under the 7th definition of rape, a situation where a woman cannot communicate consent should be considered rape. Thus, implying that a deceased person, unable to consent, falls under this category.

Indian penal code

The bench, however, declined to interfere, noting that Necrophilia is not recognised as a rape offence under Section 376 of the IPC. "A careful reading of the provisions of Sections 375 and 377 of the Indian Penal Code make it clear that, the dead body cannot be called as human or person. Thereby, the provisions of sections 375 or 377 of the Indian Penal Code would not attract. Therefore, there is no offence committed punishable under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code," it said as per the Live Law report.The High Court further recommended that Parliament needs to come up with stringent laws that penalise Necrophilia, adding that it's a "psychosexual dirorder".It added that such disorders are classified among 'paraphilias' like exhibitionism, paedophilia and sexual masochism according to DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders).

(Except for the headline, nothing has been changed by AINN in the PTI copy.)