{"id":31079,"date":"2024-10-19T18:14:37","date_gmt":"2024-10-19T12:44:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=31079"},"modified":"2024-10-19T18:14:38","modified_gmt":"2024-10-19T12:44:38","slug":"on-the-exception-to-marital-rape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/19-10-2024\/on-the-exception-to-marital-rape","title":{"rendered":"On the Exception to Marital Rape"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus :GS 1\/Social Issues<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>In News<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Supreme Court is hearing petitions to criminalize non-consensual sexual acts in marriage as rape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Justice J.B. Pardiwala questioned why wrongful confinement, intimidation, and assault are criminal offenses, but forced sexual intercourse by a husband is not considered rape.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Historical Context:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u00a0Marital Rape Exception (MRE) stems from colonial English law, particularly the \u201cdoctrine of coverture,\u201d which stripped married women of legal autonomy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The MRE was influenced by historical views, notably from jurist Matthew Hale in the 18th century, asserting that marriage equates to irrevocable consent.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>England abolished the MRE in 1991, but India retained it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Statistics on Marital Violence:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Data from the National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-2021) shows that nearly one-third of married women in India have faced physical or sexual violence from their husbands.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u00a0Additionally, global statistics reveal that approximately three-quarters of all sexual assaults transpire within intimate settings, often perpetrated by someone familiar to the survivor.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Current Legal Framework:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Section<strong> 375 of the IPC and Section 63 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita<\/strong> exclude non-consensual sexual intercourse by a husband from the definition of rape if the wife is over 15 or 18 years old, respectively.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They provide legal immunity for husbands regarding non-consensual sex with their wives.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A married woman can seek relief under other laws, like the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, but these are limited.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Issues and Concerns\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Petitioners assert that the current laws violate women&#8217;s rights to bodily integrity, autonomy, and dignity.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The exception is deemed unconstitutional, violating:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Article 14 (equal protection under the law).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Article 15(1) (right to non-discrimination).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Article 21 (right to privacy and bodily integrity).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the harm experienced by women from rape, regardless of the perpetrator&#8217;s relationship to them, is fundamentally the same.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is argued that recognizing a married woman\u2019s right to refuse sex would not undermine marriage; it affirms sexual autonomy.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It is argued that consent must be an unequivocal and voluntary agreement, applicable to married women as well.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Government&#8217;s Stance:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Centre argues against striking down the MRE, claiming it could undermine marriage, lead to false allegations, and should be considered a social issue rather than a legal one.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Judicial Observations:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud noted the inconsistency in law where certain acts are classified as rape if committed by a stranger but not by a husband.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Supreme Court has previously acknowledged that intimate partner violence can constitute rape.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A 2022 Karnataka High Court ruling allowed for the prosecution of husbands for marital rape.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Future Outlook\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Court has the authority to evaluate whether the MRE violates fundamental rights and to potentially strike it down if it does.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The court is considering whether to create a new offense or simply align existing laws with constitutional values.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: TH<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Supreme Court is hearing petitions to criminalize non-consensual sexual acts in marriage as rape.<\/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-31079","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\/31079","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=31079"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31080,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31079\/revisions\/31080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}