By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-10-20 00:38:20 | Updated at 2024-10-20 05:35:49
5 hours ago
Women’s rights in India are at a crossroads, with the Supreme Court hearing petitions to criminalise marital rape as the government calls such a move “excessively harsh” – igniting a fierce debate over consent in the world’s largest democracy.
The petitions challenge a colonial-era law exempting husbands from prosecution for rape or forced sexual acts against their wives if the woman is over 18. Activists have long argued that this exemption perpetuates patriarchal norms and leaves women vulnerable within marriage.
While the federal government acknowledges that “a man does not have a fundamental right” to force sex on his wife, it also has insisted that existing laws sufficiently protect married women from sexual violence.
“The central government asserts that [the requirement for] a woman’s consent is not obliterated by marriage,” the home ministry said in a 49-page affidavit submitted to the court earlier this month.
However, it added that “the consequences of such violations within marriage differ from those outside it”, warning that criminalising marital rape “may seriously impact the conjugal relationship” and could disrupt the institution of marriage itself.
Britain, which imposed the legal exemption on India during colonial rule, outlawed marital rape in 1991. It remains legal in about 40 nations, including Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan.
