India government says criminalising marital r*pe 'excessively harsh'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c80r38yeempo

The Indian government has opposed petitions in the top court that seek criminalisation of marital r*pe, saying it would be "excessively harsh".

The federal home ministry told the Supreme Court that "a man does not have a fundamental right" to force s*x on his wife, but there were enough laws to protect married women against sexual violence.

The top court is hearing petitions seeking to amend a British-era law that says a man cannot be prosecuted for r*pe within marriage.

Violence within marriage is rampant in India - according to a recent government survey, one in 25 women have faced sexual violence from their husbands.

Marital r*pe is outlawed in more than 100 countries, including Britain which criminalised it in 1991.

But India remains among the three dozen countries - along with Pakistan, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia - where the law remains on the statute books.

A number of petitions have been filed in recent years calling for striking down Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code, which has been in existence since 1860. The law mentions several "exemptions" - or situations in which s*x is not r*pe - and one of them is "by a man with his own wife" if she is not a minor.

Campaigners say such an argument is untenable in modern times and that forced s*x is r*pe, regardless of who commits it.

United Nations, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have also raised concerns about India's refusal to criminalise marital r*pe.

But the Indian government, religious groups and men's rights activists have opposed any plans to amend the law saying consent for s*x is "implied" in marriage and that a wife cannot retract it later.

The courts have given contradictory judgements, sometimes allowing a husband to be tried for r*pe while at others dismissing the petition.

The case came to the Supreme Court after the Delhi high court in 2022 delivered a split verdict. The top court began hearings in August.

The state's response in their 49-page affidavit submitted in the Supreme Court on Thursday has not come as a surprise in a country rooted in patriarchal traditions and where marriages are considered sacrosanct.

The report says that marriage is a relationship of a "different class" and has an "entire ecosystem" of laws, rights and obligations.

Criminalising marital r*pe "may seriously impact the conjugal relationship and may lead to serious disturbances in the institution of marriage", it stated.

The affidavit noted that in a marriage, there was a "continuing expectation to have reasonable sexual access from one's spouse" and while this did not entitle a husband to coerce his wife into having s*x, including marital r*pe under anti-r*pe laws would be "excessively harsh" and "disproportionate".

It added that there were existing laws that dealt with domestic violence, sexual harassment and assault that protected a married woman's rights.

The home ministry also said that marriage was a social institution and the issue raised in the petitions was more social than legal and hence it should be left to the parliament to formulate policy.

Every country where marriage has been legally institutionalized has legally allowed r*pe of a woman by her husband. This is what marriage is. It is an institution that allows a man to legally prevent other men from having s*x with his wife and legally allows him to have s*x with his wife whenever he wants, regardless of his wife's consent, because he is considered her owner. This bullshit Indian law actually dates back to the British era. Britain itself only criminalized marital r*pe in 1991. The marital r*pe license is a feature, not a bug, of marriage.

Stop pushing marriage on women and girls. Stop calling it the height of romance. Just stop.

!feminists !terfs