We Indians have had a number of unpalatable rules and norms shoved down our throats in the name of Indian culture. But it is really unacceptable that our lawmakers use culture to justify marital rape and let the accused men off the hook. One day earlier, our ‘esteemed’ government told the Rajya Sabha that the concept of marital rape cannot be applied in India since marriage is treated as a sacrament or sacred in the Indian society.
“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, mindset of the society to treat the marriage as a sacrament,” Home Minister Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary said.
He was replying to a written question by DMK MP Kanimozhi in Rajya Sabha. Kanimozhi had asked the home ministry whether government will bring a bill to remove the exception of marital rape from the definition of rape. She had also pointed to UN statistics that show that 75% of the married women in India have experienced marital rape. Wondering whether the government had taken cognisance of that fact, Kanimozhi questioned the government whether it is a fact that UN committee on elimination of discrimination against women has recommended to India to criminalise marital rape.
The minister retorted that the Law Commission of India had done a recent review of the rape laws and did not recommend criminalisation of marital rape, hence, no action would presently be taken on this issue.
One can expect nothing higher from the unlearned narrow minded politicians that we elect in our country, but it’s a bigger disappointment when the Law Commission of India too turns a blind eye to it. In fact the judiciary has on several counts acquitted deranged husbands when their tortured wives desperately sought justice from the court.
Activists dealing with the issue are of the opinion that the judiciary’s unwillingness to amend the laws on rape to include marital rape stems not only from a cultural perception, but also their reluctance to meddle with the religious marriage acts. These acts decree that it’s the woman’s duty as a wife to submit to her husband’s sexual needs.
There is a general misconception that marital rape is just forced sex and since the two are married, what’s the big deal anyways. But that’s true. Even if we don’t consider use of force in marital rape, there’ve been cases of bondage and gross physical abuse.
Just a month ago, Supreme Court refused to entertain a woman’s petition to declare marital rape. The woman alleged that she was not only subjected to dowry harassment, but also brutally raped by the husband who pushed torch lights into her, causing grievous injuries.
If these injuries using torch lights were inflicted by a stranger upon an unmarried girl, we would all scream bloody rape and exclaim at the horror of it. Does it make the horror any less if a person known to the woman, in fact, her family member, is inflicting the same pain upon her?
According to UN Women’s 2011 report, marital rape is a criminal offence in about 52 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France and neighbouring Bhutan. How can our judiciary ignore this in the name of culture?
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