MP High Court: Forcing Unnatural Sex on Wife Is Cruelty, Not Rape or Unnatural Offence

The Madhya Pradesh High Court ruled that if a husband forces his wife into unnatural sex without her consent and assaults her for resisting, it amounts to cruelty under Section 498A of the IPC, even in the absence of dowry demands. 

However, it does not qualify as rape or unnatural offence under Sections 376 or 377.

The case involved a woman who accused her husband of forcing unnatural sex after drinking and beating her when she refused.

The Court quashed the Section 377 charge but allowed charges of cruelty and physical assault to continue, saying such treatment clearly falls under the definition of cruelty within marriage.