{"id":30387,"date":"2024-10-04T20:13:37","date_gmt":"2024-10-04T14:43:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=30387"},"modified":"2024-10-04T20:13:38","modified_gmt":"2024-10-04T14:43:38","slug":"union-government-opposes-criminalisation-of-marital-rape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/04-10-2024\/union-government-opposes-criminalisation-of-marital-rape","title":{"rendered":"Union Government Opposes Criminalisation of Marital Rape"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS1\/ Society, GS2\/ Polity and Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Union Government told the Supreme Court that criminalizing non-consensual sexual acts within marriage as &#8216;rape&#8217; could disrupt conjugal relationships and destabilize the institution of marriage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Background<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Union government was responding to several public interest litigation petitions seeking to strike down<strong> Exception 2 of Section 375 <\/strong>of Indian Penal Code (IPC).\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The provision <strong>excludes non-consensual sexual intercourse<\/strong> by a husband with his wife, if the latter is over 15 years of age, <strong>from the definition of \u2018rape\u2019.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Arguments For Criminalising Marital Rape<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Marriage is not a license: <\/strong>A marriage should not be viewed as a license for a husband to forcibly rape his wife with impunity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Article 21 of Indian Constitution: <\/strong>A woman is entitled to refuse sexual relations with her husband as the right to bodily integrity and privacy is an intrinsic part of Article 21 of the Constitution.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>In the State of Karnataka v. Krishnappa,<\/strong> the Supreme Court held that sexual violence apart from being a dehumanizing act is an unlawful intrusion of the right to privacy and sanctity of a female.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Article 14 of Indian Constitution:<\/strong> Indian women deserve to be treated equally under article 14 and an individual\u2019s human rights do not deserve to be ignored by anyone, including by their spouse.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Human Rights Perspective:<\/strong> International human rights treaties like <strong>CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women)<\/strong>, to which India is a signatory, advocate for the criminalization of all forms of sexual violence, including within marriage.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Global Precedent: <\/strong>Many countries have already criminalized marital rape, recognizing it as a form of sexual violence. India, being a progressive democracy, should align with global standards on protecting women\u2019s rights.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#fff2cc\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Stance of Verma Committee on marital rape<\/strong><br>&#8211; The Verma Committee recommended that the <strong>exception to marital rape be removed,<\/strong> pointing out that \u201ca marital or other relationship between the perpetrator or victim is not a valid defence against the crimes of rape or sexual violation.\u201d\u00a0<br>&#8211; Concurring with the judgment of the European Commission of Human Rights, the Committee endorsed the conclusion that a <strong>rapist remains a rapist regardless of his relationship with the victim.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Arguments Against Criminalising Marital Rape<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Destabilize marriage as an institution: <\/strong>It may create absolutely anarchy in families and destabilize the institution of marriage.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Misuse of law: <\/strong>It may become an easy tool for harassing the husbands by misusing the law similar to the growing misuse of section 498A (harassment caused to a married woman by her husband and in-laws) of the IPC.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Implementation issues: <\/strong>Criminalizing marital rape will create issues like veracity of testimony, evidences in the courts etc.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Ministry of Home Affairs<\/strong> argued that being married does not take away a woman&#8217;s right to give or refuse consent. There are other laws in place to protect a woman&#8217;s consent within marriage under <strong>Indian Penal Code (IPC).<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Section 354:<\/strong> Punishes assault or force used to outrage a woman&#8217;s modesty.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Section 354A:<\/strong> Deals with sexual harassment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Section 354B: <\/strong>Punishes assault or force used with the intent to disrobe a woman.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Section 498A: <\/strong>Addresses cruelty by a husband or his relatives.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The continuous exemption of marital rape from the purview of criminal law sustains the assumption of the <strong>wife as exclusive property of the husband.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>While protecting the institution of marriage is important, laws must also ensure that <strong>women\u2019s autonomy and consent are upheld.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>However merely criminalizing marital rape may not stop it as <strong>\u201cmoral and social awareness\u201d<\/strong> plays a vital role in stopping such an act.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>India could look to global examples where marital rape has been criminalized, and learn from their approaches to implementing the law while minimizing misuse and ensuring justice.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/treating-non-consensual-sexual-acts-within-wedlock-as-rape-will-seriously-impact-institution-of-marriage-centre-tells-supreme-court\/article68\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Union Government told the Supreme Court that criminalizing non-consensual sexual acts within marriage as &#8216;rape&#8217; could disrupt conjugal relationships and destabilize the institution of marriage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30387"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30389,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30387\/revisions\/30389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}