India is amidst a divided house where a section of feminists are pushing for the Marital Rape Law, while Men’s Rights Activists are opposing it vehemently. To begin with, the premise of opposing the same is not to give a clean pass to husbands who sexually violate wives, but:
Women in India are already armed with several one sided laws, with which they can exit bad marriage
Marital rape law won’t be gender neutral, which means men in sexually violent marriages have to suffer without recourse
The law will be grossly misused by disgruntled women who want to get rid of their husbands – before or during a divorce and child custody case
Yes even a murder law is misused, but line of investigation in that case is way different than that of matrimonial cases, where word of wife is supreme
The law will also become a tool to constantly threaten, harass and keep the husbands as puppets – if they don’t fall in line or give into wife’s demands; the sword of martial rape charge will be hanging on them for life
The law will also be used by several wives for property demands, demand of assets, throwing out husband’s parents and discontinuing contact with them
The same is already happening in Anti Dowry law cases (498A) to the extent where Men are dying by suicides due to either demands of Alimony or when wives are caught in Adultery – these cases go completely unrecorded while we constantly paint husbands all men as rapists
Since the petitioners have been presenting arguments in the court, how 50 other countries have criminalised Marital Rape, we are sharing with you below, a recent case how this law can take shape in India as well.
According to a New York Post report in September 2021, a former Netflix bigwig had a warrant out for his arrest in the US after being accused of raping his wife multiple times (in 2017).
Case:
Diego Bunuel, 46, who was head of documentaries for the global streamer and now helms programming at French state broadcaster France Télévisions, allegedly assaulted his wife, writer and socialite Maggie Kim, in the US in 2017, according to court documents.
Bunuel, the French-born grandson of famed filmmaker Luis Bunuel, has been charged with felony rape of Kim, 48, in Massachusetts.
Kim, who lives between Los Angeles and France, claims she was left “in actual fear of her life” and struggling to escape as Bunuel allegedly told her he wanted to hurt her, according to court documents.
While Bunuel, who has both US and French citizenship, cannot return to the US without being arrested, he currently has custody of the couple’s two children and is living in France.
Kim claims he will not let her bring the children — who also have dual US and French citizenship — back to the US, according to court papers.
He has yet to return to the United States to face the criminal charges. He has, through his counsel, filed a successful motion to dismiss a pending civil case based on the same alleged conduct. His motion to dismiss states:
Nothing contained in this motion constitutes an admission of any liability or wrongdoing on the part of Mr. Bunuel.
Allegations by Wife
There were three alleged rapes by Bunuel, including one on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, according to court documents that are publicly available.
Court papers seen by The Post were filed at Dukes County Superior Court in Massachusetts in the related civil lawsuit in 2020. They allege,
As a result of the willful and/or malicious conduct of the Defendant, the plaintiff sustained abrasions and contusions to her neck and body.
In addition, the plaintiff suffered mental and emotional anguish, nervousness, increased heart rhythm, shortness of breath and increased blood pressure, some or all of which are likely to be permanent in nature.
As a further result of the willful and/or malicious conduct of the Defendant, the Plaintiff has been and will be unable to engage in personal and family, leisure and social activities as she did prior to the incidents, all of which has and will cause her loss.
Background:
Bunuel and Kim were married from 2007 until 2017, tying the knot in Costa Rica. They are still not legally divorced.
Bunuel (father) was given custody of the children through the French family court.
In April 2020, a Massachusetts judge dismissed Kim’s civil suit and ruled that a French court could oversee the rape case that allegedly happened in Martha’s Vineyard.
The court papers filed by Kim allege that Bunuel raped her in the US 10-days after filing for divorce. The complaint claimed,
It appears Bunuel committed the sexual assault on Martha’s Vineyard after he had surreptitiously filed divorce papers in France.
While Men’s Day Out does not advocate in favour of, or against the man, we are merely putting out how these laws will unfold in India, a country where perjury laws are weakest and women are let off without punishment for filing false criminal cases.
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