 Rape has been held to be a violation of a person’s Fundamental Right guaranteed under

Art. 21. “Right to Life” means “the Right to live with human dignity”. “Right to Life” would
therefore, include all those aspects of life which go to make a life meaningful, complete,
and worth living”.
In (Narendra Kumar v. State (NCT of Delhi), (2012) 7 SCC 171 719) : AIR 2012 SC 2281, the
SC observed that, “Rape is a crim against basic human rights and is also violative of the
victim’s most cherished of the fundamental Rights, namely, the right to Life contained in
Art. 21. Even in cases, where there is some material to show that the prosecutrix was
habituated to sexual intercourse, no inference of the victim being a woman of ‘easy virtue’
or a woman of ‘loose moral character’ can be drawn. Such a woman has a right to protect
her dignity and cannot be subjected to rape only for that reason”
The impugned Exception II is not considering rape which is committed by a husband against
his own wife and therefore, violative of her right to life aend the right to live with dignity
which is dearer to her, as enshrined in Art. 21 of the Constitution of Indiva.

 Article 21 is couched in negative phraseology. But by its creative interpretation of Art. 21

in various cases, the Supreme Court has come to impose positive obligation upon the state
to take steps for ensuring to the individual a better enjoyment of his life and dignity.
(Constitution of India MP jain 7th edition at page 1158).
However, the state has failed to fulfill its obligation by not criminalizing marital rape, for
ensuring to women a better enjoyment of his life and dignity.
 In the case of Confederation of Ex-servicemen Association v. UOI, (2006) 8 SCC 399 : AIR
2006 SC 2945 the SC observed that “the right to life guaranteed under Art. 21 embraces
within its sweep not only physical existence but the quality of life. If any statutory
provisions run counter to such a right, it must be held unconstitutional.
The impugned Exception II run counter to women’s right to life, right to live with dignity,
right to privacy, right to health, right to procreate, and thus, must be held unconstitutional.
 Article 21 assures every person right to lifw and personal liberty. The term ‘life’ has been
given a very expansive meaning. The term ‘personal liberty’ has been given a very wide
amplitude covering a variety of rights which go to constitute personal liberty of a citizen.
Its deprivation shall only be as per the relevant procedure prescribed in the relevant law,
but the procedure has to be fair, just and reasonable.
 In Suchita Srivastava v. Chandigarh Administration, (2009) 9 SCC 1 : AIR 2010 SCC 235 It
was observed that “a women;s right to make reproductive choices has been held to be a
dimension of “personal liberty” within the meaning of Art 21.