The government, in all their infinite wisdom, today deemed that marital rape cannot be made a crime in India. Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary said: ‘It is considered that the concept of marital rape, as understood internationally, cannot be suitably applied in the Indian context due to various factors, including level of education, illiteracy, poverty, myriad social customs and values, religious beliefs, mind-set of the society to treat the marriage as a sacrament.’ He was replying to a written question of DMK MP Kanimozhi in Rajya Sabha.
So basically what the GOI is telling us is f#ck a woman and her basic rights, the values that society holds dear, no matter how regressive, are far more important! ‘The Law Commission of India, while making its 172nd Report on Review of Rape Laws did not recommend criminalisation of marital rape by amending the exception to Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code and hence presently there is no proposal to bring any amendment to the IPC in this regard,’ the Minister said.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again but our legal system is a complete ass. How else do you explain the fact that it’s a crime for two consenting adults of the same sex to engage in coitus but a husband can do whatever he wants with his wife! Who needs Fifty Shades of Grey and the liberal west’s concept of BDSM when our Indian values could put Christian Grey to shame!
The Justice Verma Committee (which came into being after the horrid events of Dec 2012) recommended doing away with the marital rape clause. Their report read: ‘Under the Indian Penal Code sexual intercourse without consent is prohibited. However, an exception to the offence of rape exists in relation to un- consented sexual intercourse by a husband upon a wife. The Committee recommended that the exception to marital rape should be removed. Marriage should not be considered as an irrevocable consent to sexual acts.’
So why are things like that? Maybe it has something to do with other laws, which makes it illegal for a wife to say no to her husband for too long (Restitution of Conjugal Rights/Right to stay together – Hindu Marriage Act 1955). The actual legalese says: ‘If either the husband or the wife, without reasonable excuses, withdraws from the society of the other, the aggrieved party may approach the Court for restitution of conjugal rights.’ In simple layman terms, a woman can’t accuse her husband of rape, but the husband can legally take her to court for saying no to sex! So while marital rape is legal, a woman saying no too often is not!
Modified Date: April 29, 2015 9:20 PM
Source - india . com
