The Government of India has submitted an affidavit to the Delhi High Court, giving reasons why marital rape cannot be criminalised. Yes, you heard that right. Being raped by your husband is okay because shaadhi saath janmo ka bandhan hai, chahe woh Insaan se ho ya janwar se. After all Pati toh parmeshwar hota hai na.
Let’s look at the 5 reasons why according to the government marital rape cannot be criminalised in India
- There is no legal definition of marital rape. Yes, we know what is rape. But we do not know what is marital rape. In our society, once a woman is married, she loses all individual rights as well as existence. Consent jaye bhad mein. The government of India has told this to the HC and I’ll quote the exact sentence from the affidavit “What may appear to be marital rape to an individual wife, it may not appear to others”.
2. Shaadi, yes, Shaadi. The Institution of Shaadi is more important than being raped by husband. Government of India is more concerned about innocent husbands being framed by conniving wives. After all, isn’t India a matriarchy? Housewives, after all, are oppressors who have supressed their husbands for generations. If the law changes, they will have another powerful legal tool to blackmail the men.
3. The government has actually told the court that Rape, as defined by Indian Penal Code, isn’t valid in the case of marital rape. Why? Listen to this, this is gold. “there can be no lasting evidence in case of sexual acts between a man and his own wife.” So rape and consensual sex are the same. So it seems women outside marriage are legally more empowered. So much for this Shaadi obsessed country.
4. While the government tries hard to make a case against the law on marital rape, it does accepts its existence. However, it says changing the law will not stop marital rape. “Moral and social awareness plays a vital role in stopping such an act”, says the government. By this logic, the new rape laws should have brought down rapes in India or new anti-terror laws must have brought down terror. Why was there even a law to ban sati in India? We can all wait till awareness spread… hopefully by the next century
5.This is the stupidest reason of all. Basically, the government believes that the concept of criminalising marital rape is a western idea. The government of India has pointed out some factors for which marital rape occurs in India. Literacy. All illiterates are rapist. Because of the lack of financial female empowerment, poor women invite men to rape them. Vast diversity. I do not know which diverse culture of India says rape is okay.
Remember the right to privacy case in which the same government argued that we do not have rights over our bodies? Women, particularly the married ones, have known it for long!
