THE Supreme Court is set to hear on May 9 a batch of petitions to check the legality and constitutionality of marital rape. The three-judge Bench will be headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud.
Various petitions are to be collectively addressed, including an appeal against the split verdict on the issue of marital rape by the two-judge Bench of Delhi High Court. Secondly, a PIL against the law that if a husband forcefully and sexually imposes himself on his wife, technically it is rape but legally it will not be. Thirdly, the verdict of the Karnataka High Court, which upholds the framing of charges against the husband committing marital rape, is under challenge.
In the case of marital rape, India continues to adhere to the archaic colonial law where unwilling sexual contact between a husband and a wife is not recognised as a criminal offence.
National survey findings
Russia became the first country to criminalise marital rape, while in China, marital rape is neither a criminal, nor a civil offence. Marital rape has been criminalised in Britain where the accused can be sentenced to a life imprisonment.
According to the latest round of the National Family Health Survey, about 32 per cent of married women in India have experienced spousal physical, sexual, or emotional violence.
A recent report by the United Nations revealed that 25 per cent of married women in the 18-49 years age group have experienced spousal physical or sexual violence.
Verma panel report
Justice JS Verma (Retired) Committee Report (2013) vehemently negated the concept that a wife is no more than a subservient chattel of her husband. The committee recommended the removal of the exception for marital rape and proposed that the law should specify that “marital or other relationship between the perpetrator or victim is not a valid defence against the crimes of rape or sexual violation”.
A decision by the European Commission of Human Rights endorses the conclusion that “a rapist remains a rapist regardless of his relationship with the victim.” The view that criminalising marital rape would destroy the institution of marriage is unacceptable, since marriage is not institutional but personal. Nothing can destroy the ‘institution’ of marriage except a statute that makes marriage illegal and punishable.
(The writer is an advocate, practicing in the Supreme Court of India)
