What is Marital Rape?
Marital rape is a type of
rape committed by the sexual partner in marriage. When it comes to rape the
entire attention goes towards women, and men are ignored. However, no doubt the
majority of victims are women.
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| Picture Credit- indiatimes.com |
It is not a Myth – The Society needs to learn the Truth
Marital
rape is one of the darkest hidden real stories in India. Women face marital
rape, and a brutal physical abuse, and in worse cases, they get even
murdered by their spouse due to sexual conflicts.
Every
year different married men have been accused of marital rape, however, only
fewer women are that courageous to complaint in the Indian society. There have
been incidents where the wife accused the husband of forced- sex, but the
incident turned in favor of the husband, as relatives and gathering of elders
decides ‘the fate’ of married couple.
Marital
has rape has become an unquestionable reality in India- which needs to be
addressed. Majority believe that marriages are for sexual fulfilment, and the
basic duty of a woman is to be sexually available for the husband.
However,
believing in such concepts does not make it true. To know the truth, a problem
should be understood on the parameters of facts. So, the truth which we ignore
and are scared to say is that the women are treated as a 'commodity' in social
structure.
The
individuality turns out of almost ' non-existence' in the institution of
marriage. The society needs to understand that a woman is an individual who has
rights on her body, mind and choices. However the patriarchal society is
not willing to understand the concept of 'choices' and 'freedom'.
Physically forced her to have
sexual intercourse with him even when she did not want to
The National Health and Family
Survey – 4 for 2015-16, 5.4% of women have experienced marital rape.
The form of sexual violence
most commonly reported by women was that their husband used physical force to
have sexual intercourse when they did not want to- According to the survey.
Ugly and heinous spousal violence
In the category of spousal
violence, the National Health and Family survey records both sexual and
physical violence. The survey has looked at married women in the age group of
15-49.
The highest form of
nine-sexual violence comes from men slapping women – 25% of women surveyed said
they have been slapped.
In all 12% of married women
said they have been pushed, shaken and have had things thrown at them. 10% said
the husbands have pulled their arms or hair. Another 7.5 said they have been
punched with fists or object and 7% said they have been kicked, dragged and
beaten up. More so, 1.5% said they have been choked or burnt and 0.8% said they
have been threatened or attacked with guns, knives and other weapons.
There are still countries where
it’s legal to rape to rape your spouse
Sexual assault laws in the
United States are far from perfect: some states give victims only three years
to report sexual assaults, while others require them to pay for their own rape
kits. But a new report from Equality Now shows the situation is even direr in
countries around the world
The women’s rights
organization surveyed the laws of each of the 82 countries between 2014 and
2015. They found laws expressly allowing for spousal rape in Ghana, India,
Indonesia, Jordan, Lesotho, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Sri lank, and Tanzania.
In four of these countries, it is permitted even when the victim is a child.
Ghanaian law, for example,
states that “consent gives by husband or wife at marriage, for the purposes of
marriage, cannot be revoked, “unless the parties are divorced or legally
separated. In Lesotho, spousal rape is only illegal if the perpetrator also
uses abusive language, violence, or threats.
Allowing for spousal rape, the
report points out, makes sexual violence as a whole seem less serious
A lack of spousal rape protections
begins the narrative that not all rape is rape and so sews the seeds to allow
the perpetrator to escape responsibly- in law or in practice – for his
violence.
In India, where spousal rape
is still legal, one-third of men admit to forcing their wives into a sexual
act. One 27- year’s old Indian woman told the Women’s Media Center that her
husband once beat her into a semi-conscious state and raped her with a flashlight.
He was never prosecuted, and there are many.
Studies show that spousal
rape often happens in such situations, where rape and other forms of abuse
occur in tandem. One study from the National Institute of justice found
that the majority of women who were physically assaulted by a partner were
sexually assaulted by the partner as well.
Criminalizing spousal rape, then, does more than just punish
rapists- it protects women in an abusive relationship as well.
At least 52 countries have
already done so, according to UN women and while these laws don’t prevent all
assault, they contribute to an overall culture in which sexual violence is less
accepted. Including an express criminalization of rape in marriage,
legislatures are spending a strong signal of what is not acceptable in society,
in turn, this can change the attitude of law enforcement personnel and of the
broader public so that all sexual abuser of women and girls can be held
accountable
United Nation’s Report: 250,000
cases of rape
A United Nations statistical
report compiled from government sources showed that more than 250,000 cases of
rape or attempted rape were recorded by police annually. The reported data
covered 65 countries.
Legal provisions in India
Section 375 of the IPC
holds that “sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife, the wife not being
under 15 years of age, is not rape”. No other statute or law recognizes marital
rape. Victims only have recourse to
civil remedies provided under the protection of women from Domestic Violence
Act, 2005.
Arguments against
criminalization or marital rape: The fear of breaking the marriage and a tool
for harassing husbands
As per people who are not willing to criminalize the marital rape,
it may destabilize the institution of marriage apart from being and an easy
tool for harassing the husbands. The concern is related to the rising misuse of
section 498A of Indian penal code which is known as dowry law, for harassing
the husbands.
Other countries, mostly western, have criminalized marital rape
does not necessarily mean India should also follow them blindly is also the
part of the argument.
Law commission or review of rape laws has examined the issue but
not recommended the criminalization of marital rape. Therefore, people argue
that the marital should not be criminalized.
Arguments for the
criminalization of marital rape
The report ‘status of women
in India’, by the high-level committee of the ministry of women and child
development, criticized the legislature for its failure to criminal’s marital
rape.
Till date, 51 countries have
criminal’s marital rape, beginning with Poland in 1932.
The United Kingdom, whose common law was
followed by India, made marital rape a criminal offence in 1991.
There are several studies to
show the prevalence of non-consensual sex with their wives, and physically
forcing their wives to have sex.
What is a marriage?
Marriage is no longer valid
that it should be only for producing the children. Women were bought like a
commodity. Today, marriage is an equal-relationship contract and a one-time
consent to everything. The legal exception to the rape laws gives men unequal
privilege. Marital rape victims suffer from long-lasting physiological scars
exception under section 375, violates articles 14, 15, 19 and 21
What are the concerns and
challenges?
There can be several concerns
and challenges regarding marital rape issue are as follows:-
1-
The prevalence of child marriages and in many cases women are
forcefully married off.
2-
2- In India, marital rape is not defined
in any statute or law, an issue several women’s rights advocates have argued
against.
3-
The patriarchal nature of Indian society,
ingrains it in the minds of men that women are expected to comply when their
husbands demand sex.
4-
The victim suffers physical abuse and she
also has to undergo mental trauma of her dignity being violated.
Why men find raping their wives
a privilege?
Broad sexual attitudes in the
early twentieth century differed little from those of the previous two thousand
years. The suffocating influence of religion in enforcing sex-negative belief
had abated somewhat, but doctors and scientists were picking up the slack.
Sexual sins are becoming
symptoms of mental illness
When the purpose of marriage is a reproduction, the institution
becomes brutal. The personal fulfilment of a spouse, especially wives, means
little next to the key business at hand. A wife’s lack of pleasure in
lovemaking, or her ill will towards husbands, raised concerns only to the
extent that it affected her ability to conceive. If women sought other sources
of intimacy or arousal, the potential penalties were barely less ruinous than
those that wives had suffered for centuries.
While men are expected to
protect their wives from outside dangers and not beat them too severely, long standing
laws still allowed husbands to “rule” their women, rather than protecting
battered wives.
The Attitude of Indian Court/s-
Protect the institution
The Supreme Court one sided
delivered justice on the issues of triple talaq, LGBT rights etc, on the
contrary in October, 2017, the Supreme Court states that marital rapes can’t be
considered Criminal as tradition does not justify assault.
In the progressive way, it
just addressed the issue of child marriage, that in case of child marriage
below 18 years of age, the sexual intercourse will be considered as rape.
On the Marital Rapes, the
courts often looked the other way reasoning that by doing so they were
encouraging family harmony and protecting the “sacred” home from government
intrusion. Taking sympathy on the wife, the court let the fine stand, but then
it doubled back and signaled to the state’s other violent husbands that the law
was still on their side- and the wife remains their property without her
individual mind.
The court even mentioned
about the “Public Policy,” and it required courts to protect the “sanctity of
the domestic circle” by ignoring all but the most extreme cases of violence
where, for example. “Permanent injury has been inflicted.” Short of that, the
court declared, “it is better to shut out the public gaze and leave the parties
to forgive and forget. In other words, unless a wife had been “worn out” by her
husband’s fists or whip, she had only hoped to protect her.
Does woman need unnecessary
social protection of husband?
In 19th
century women were not considered intelligent enough to study, but thanks to
Savitribai Phule, who brought the revolution in women’s education. Women are
controlled in families even for getting their hair trims. People accepted such
myths socially that hair brings fortune and life to husband.
But, any
of these are not facts or evidence based. When people protested the change occurred.
In similar way, criminalizing marital rape would not reduce the metaphysical
concept of the marriage. It may bring the better aspect of married life.
The
problem with the society is that they have always judged and doubt the
potential of women, even when there has been woman like Shakuntala Devi- who
even defeated computers in her calculations.
Women do
not need protection of husband, father and anyone. People should stop entering
in to their space, their choices and their lives.
They are
not commodity, and neither should be treated one. No one needs to rule the
woman, she is capable of handling the life and even the nation – (consider
Indira Gandhi).
A way forward
What constitutes marital rape
and marital non-rape needs to be defined precisely before a view on its
criminalization is taken. Defining marital rape would call for a broad-based
consensus of society. States should intervene in the matter, since, vast
diversity, poverty, etc., should be considered carefully before taking any
decision. The need for “moral and social awareness” to stop such as act should
be emphasized. The recent privacy judgment by the Supreme Court is also set to
play an important role.
The right to bodily integrity
is a crucial facet of Article 21. Timely medical care and rehabilitation, skill
development and employment for facilitating economic independence of victims
should be an area of focus. There is an urgent need for undertaking both legal
and social reforms to deal with the menace of marital rape.
Conclusion
A woman has a right to bodily
integrity, sexual autonomy and reproductive choice, and the marriage stands only
when individual rights are not sacrificed and two partners are treated equally.
If not, the marriages are broken inside, and institution of marriage remains
meaningless.
- Alveera Khan and Namrata Chauhan
All rights reserved.
