Karnataka High Court’s Verdict on Necrophilia: Implications for Legal Definitions and the IPC

The Karnataka High Court recently issued a significant verdict in a controversial case involving sexual intercourse with a deceased woman’s body. The court concluded that such an act does not constitute the offence of rape punishable under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Consequently, the accused was acquitted of the charge of “raping” the victim’s dead body, as there is no specific provision in the IPC to address this conduct. The court’s reasoning was based on the premise that a deceased body cannot be considered a human or a person, leading to the exclusion of Sections 375 (rape) and 377 (unnatural offences) of the IPC in this context.

Furthermore, the court classified sexual intercourse with a dead body as necrophilia, describing it as a morbid fascination with death and the deceased. However, the IPC does not explicitly list necrophilia as an offence. In light of this, the Karnataka High Court recommended that the Centre consider amending Section 377 of the IPC, which deals with unnatural offences, to include provisions addressing necrophilia specifically or introduce a separate penal provision for dealing with such cases.