MARITAL RAPE


WHAT IS MARITAL RAPE?

Forceful sexual intercourse obtained by a man from his wife is known as marital or spousal rape. In our country rape as mentioned in the IPC is a criminsl offence, however, marital rape is an exception according to the existing laws. As given in the IPC, sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife, wife not being under the age of 18, is not rape.This law gives access to the male society of having forceful sexual intercourse without the basic sense of consent. Many have termed this notion as giving the husbands a LICENCE TO RAPE.

Such an act is considered as a criminal offence in countries like the USA, UK and Canada. However, India is one of many countries where women can't run a legal case against their husbands for non consensual intercourse.

STATUS OF MARITAL RAPE LAWS IN INDIA

After hearing a group of pleas, a 2judge bench in Delhi high court gave a split judgement on the exception of marital rape in the IPC. Justice Rajiv Shakdher was with the motion of the exception being unlawful but the clause was rendered valid , according to Justice C Hari Shankar. The Court on 21st February 2022 rejected the Centre’s request for more time to respond to petitions seeking the criminalisation of marital rape and reserved its verdict for 2nd March 2022.
While replying to a question in Rajya Sabha, the Centre stated that a process for comprehensive amendments to criminal laws in consultation with all stakeholders has been initiated.







SOURCE; INDIA TIMES.