Delhi High Court Upholds Conviction U/S 377 IPC; Sets Out Ingredients Of ‘Carnal Intercourse Against Order Of Nature’

[20 December 2021]
The Delhi High Court has observed that any physical act answering to all the ingredients below committed upon a minor is per-se ‘carnal intercourse against the order of nature’ appearing in section 377 of IPC:
i. it must have to do with flesh and sensuality, namely it must be carnal;
ii. there must be intercourse between individuals, without restricting it only to human-to-human intercourse;
iii. it must involve penetration other than penile-vaginal penetration, since by the very nature, intent and purpose of section 377, it must refer to an unnatural act, such as ‘penile-anal penetration’, ‘digital penetration’ or ‘object penetration’.
The Bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Anup J Bhambhani observed thus:
“Subject to the requirement of the above ingredients, we however completely agree that attempting to define the phrase ‘carnal intercourse against the order of nature’ with exactitude is neither possible, and perhaps not even desirable. Accordingly, though we hesitate to give the phrase ‘carnal intercourse against the order of nature’ any exhaustive meaning, we hold, that as a matter of law, any physical act answering to all the above ingredients, committed upon a minor is per-se ‘carnal intercourse against the order of nature’.”