Marital Rape: A Persisting Issue in India, High school final essays of Sociology

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MARITAL RAPE

By – Aditya Sharma

When a man imposes sexual intercourse on his wife with force or with the threat of force or when the wife not able to consent according to world bank data India is one of the only the 35 countries in the world where the marital rape is legal that surely not good thing to talk about, there are certain activists, people in generals, civil society talks about the criminalization of the marital rape in India, but it is not that easy nor seems like it will happen soon because the government does not want to criminalize marital rape and that’s the serious problem arise and it is quite problematic when I research about it I found that Centre told Delhi high court that ‘’CRIMINALISING MARITAL RAPE MAY DESTABILISE INSTITUTION OF MARRIAGE’’ and it becomes an easy tool for harassing the husband. This kind of response by the government when the petition filed by the NGO, activists and marital rape survivor where the petition challenges the exception in section 375 of IPC defines rape clause – ‘’sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife not being under 15 years of age, is not rape’’ and the section 376 of IPC provide punishment for rape ‘’ the rapist should be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than 7 years but which may extend to life or for the term extending up to 10 years and shall also be liable to fine unless the woman is his own wife, and it is not under 12 years of age, in which case he shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years with fine or both’’^1. People with great power or name in the society Swaraj Kaushal who is the ex-governor of Mizoram also a supreme court lawyer, he is the husband of Sushma Swaraj, once he tweeted ‘there is nothing like marital rape in the world, our home should not become jail there will be more husband in the jail, then in the house’’ can destroy the humanity. This problem is very big we can identify it by the number reflect the gravity of the situation a study conducted by the ICRW(international Centre for research on women and UNFPA shoed that in 2014 in 8 states od India 1 in 3 men admit to raping their wives and 1 Indian woman is raped by her husband every 3 seconds, it is big shame that marital rape like huge crime is not criminalized in the country. America is (^1) THE INDIAN PENAL CODE, 1860,ACT NO. 45 OF 1860 ,[6th October, 1860.].

the first country which identifies marital rape as a serious offense and make law regarding it. the justice Verma committee said that ‘’ the achievement of empowerment and equality of women has to be necessarily conjoint efforts of the individual and the state ‘’^2 rape is not the only savagery against ladies it destroys the soul of the victim, it can create a deep impact on the physical as well as mental health their many countries and the state which made laws regarding marital rape, the laws in some countries do not recognize marital rap and ordinary rape. In 2005 the protection of women from the domestic violence act, was pass which considers marital rape as a type of local violence in which the victims can go to courts. Is the lady raped, break her trust and affection also it is just like the death of her soul if this kind of offense she goes through. A lady has all the rights that it can ensure the entitlement to life and freedom and she can decide with whom she wants to be comfortable with, the main resort for ladies so far is section 498 A of IPC managing remorselessness to ensure themselves against ‘’unreasonable sexual direct by the spouse’’ there are certain landmark cases like ‘ ’State of Maharashtra v. Madhukar Narayan ’’^3 where the SC held that every woman is entitled to her sexual privacy and it is not open to for any and every person to violates her privacy as and whenever he wished and the case of ‘ ’Francis corallie muin vs. union territory of Delhi ‘’^4 talks about right to live with human dignity and case of ‘’ Sree Kumar v. pearly Karun ’’^5 states right to bodily self-determination. In India marital rape exists de facto but not de jure. the marital rape is the most common and old in the Indian society it is kind form of masochism, the Hon’ble supreme court of India last hope for reform in outdated approach toward marital rape , the fact is the country is not ready to accept marital rape as crime because as we know there certain factors in the society like level of education , poverty, religious beliefs , social customs present in the society which act as the barrier mostly the social custom which present in the society from ancient times act as a blindfold for the people, we can not change the mindset of people. In this the marital rape is significantly more horrendous for the lady since she needs to remain with her ordinary condition, as a result of the marital rape are truly high it needs to be criminalized. as when I (^2) Report of the committee on Amendment to Criminal law, January 23,2013, para-22, p.10. (^3) State of Maharashtra versus Madhukar Narayan Mardikar, AIR 1991 SC 207. (^4) Francis Corallie Muin v. Union Territory of Delhi 1981 AIR 746, 1981 SCR (2) 516. (^5) Sree Kumar v. Pearly Karun, 1999(2) ALT Cri 77( India).

research about the topic I saw the different perspective of Indian citizen regarding marital rape, which more seems statement from an illiterate person, more of the statement like’’ marital rape is not objectionable subject’’ or ‘’ married is the license’’ or ‘’a husband has right on his wife whatever he wants he can do’’ or ‘’how is this rape? if he cannot do it with his wife, where does he goes’’ or ‘’ why did she get married if she didn’t want it’’ or ‘’ there should be no freedom given to female’’ this kind of nonsense statement I was about to know, these show the mindset of people this kind of perception destroys the humanity the rape does just not destroy the physical health of the victim but it can also destruct her soul.