NEW DELHI—India’s government is opposing a petition to the Supreme Court asking it to amend a British colonial-era law that says men cannot be prosecuted for marital rape. He said making it a crime would be “unduly harsh.”
India’s Ministry of Home Affairs, in a written reply sent Thursday to a petition filed in the Supreme Court, said that while a man should face “penal punishment” for raping his wife, criminalizing the act would not. “This could have a serious impact on the marital relationship and cause serious confusion.” within the institution of marriage. ”
“It is certain that a husband has no fundamental right to violate his wife’s consent,” the government said in an affidavit. “However, it is perhaps considered unduly harsh to attach a crime of the nature of ‘rape’, which is recognized in India, to the institution of marriage.”
Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code, in force since 1860, deals with rape and exempts a man from the crime of raping his wife unless the woman in question is a minor. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government enacted a revised penal code in July that maintained laws on marital rape.
rape within marriage It is a crime in more than 100 countries and all 50 states of the United States, and was criminalized in the mid-1990s. But India is one of the countries, along with Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, where it is not illegal for a man to rape his wife.
The Indian government insists there are already sufficient legal protections against sexual and domestic violence against married women. A government affidavit this week said marital rape was covered in a 2005 law protecting women from domestic violence.
The law recognizes sexual abuse as a form of domestic violence but does not specify penalties for it. Another section of the penal code imposes up to three years in prison for men found guilty of what is broadly defined as “cruelty” against their spouses.
Same-sex marriage is Not currently allowed In India.
Marital violence is widespread in India. According to the latest National Family Health Survey conducted by the government from 2019 to 2021, 6% of married women in India reported experiencing sexual violence at the hands of their husbands.
The government and various religious groups have long opposed petitions to reform rape laws, arguing that sexual consent is “implied” by marriage and cannot be withdrawn.
Human rights activists say this argument is outdated, especially at a time when cases of sexual violence against women are on the rise in the country.
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In India, protests and strikes by medical workers continued throughout August. Rape and murder of young female doctor In the city of Kolkata.
The petition seeking amendments to the century-and-a-half-old rape law was filed in India’s Supreme Court after the Delhi Lower High Court delivered a split verdict on the issue in 2022. Arguments in the case are expected to continue for several months. Judgment is handed down.