Keywords – Karnataka High Court, Necrophilia, Rape, Section 376
On 31st of May, 2023 the Karnataka High Court with its division bench of Justice B Veerappa and Justice Venkatesh Naik had held that sexual assault on the dead body of a woman will not attract the offense of rape punishable under the section 376 of the Indian Penal Code. It thus acquitted a man of rape charges for committing sexual assault on a dead body of 21 year old girl after murdering her.
The facts of the case were that on 25th June of 2015, the accused had murdered a 21 year old girl and had also allegedly raped her. The police had arrested him and later had also filed a charge sheet against him. The trial court had convicted the accused.
The accused had later filed an appeal and had contented that this act was nothing but necrophilia and under the Indian Penal Code there is no such provision of punishing the said act. To which the prosecution had opposed the plea and contented that the provisions of section 375A and section 375C were amended in 1983 and by virtue of that rape with dead bodies is punishable under section 376.
The Karnataka High Court was decisive that whether sexual intercourse with a dead body counts any of the charges of Indian Penal Code, to which they laid down, by looking at section 46 of the Indian Penal Code, that a dead body can neither consent nor protest to a rape or any bodily injury coupled with it, and as a dead body has no feelings of outrage so it doesn’t attracts any of the rape charges. The court also ruled that necrophilia is an erotic psychosexual disorder which is no offense made out to punish the accused under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code. Lastly, the court had upheld the conviction for murder and set aside the conviction that was to be done under the section 376 of Indian Penal Code.
My perspective to this situation is that even though necrophilia had not gained that much recognition in the Indian Penal Code, but still the Article 21 of our Constitution not only ensures life with dignity and respect but also ensures right of an individual to die in a dignified manner. Even though this act of the accused does not counts to any charges of sexual offences, but then too it does violates the section 297 of the Indian Penal Code as it is causing indignity to any human corpse by trespassing into a place which has been set apart for performance of funerals. This heinous act could also be punished as it insulted a religion (only if all the legal essentials of intention are satisfied). One remedy that could also work is that the government should also enact a law to punish such acts
Written by – Yashashvi Mishra , College Name – SS Khanna Girls Degree College, University of Allahabad, Semester – 4th, an intern under Legal Vidhiya
[1] https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/karnataka-high-court-rape-dead-body-sexual-assault-acquittal-necrophilia-section-376-ipc-229822
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