Delhi High Court is all set to pronounce its verdict tomorrow on the Criminalisation of Marital Rape.
While petitioners in the matter have placed several examples of aping similar laws from western countries, they have not advocated to make the same Gender Neutral in India (like in the case of all countries whose examples they have cited).
On the other hand, Men Welfare Trust represented by Advocate J Sai Deepak have put forth very strong arguments against bringing in yet another Gender Biased Law favouring only and only the wives. Primarily Men’s Rights Activists are against yet another one sided woman centric law due to below:
Firstly, MRAs are not advocating either spouse raping the other
- The argument is Criminalisation of Sex within Marriage, which can be termed as Rape, only and only on the basis of wife’s testimony
- Existing laws like Section 498-A IPC (mental & physical cruelty), Domestic Violence Act 2005 (mental, physical, sexual violence), Section 377 IPC (unnatural sex) already provide recourse to women who are in a sexually abusive marriage. The husbands can be very much jailed if found guilty
- Arming only the women in a marriage to charge their husbands with forced sex; A husband, like the one sided Domestic Violence Law, will have no recourse
- Marital Rape law going the Anti-Dowry Law way, where Supreme Court has termed the latter as “Legal Terrorism” (by wives & their families). Even after 40-years, there have hardly been any amendments to such a draconian law, that can jail entire family of husband on one complaint by wife (with or without evidences)
If the verdict favours criminalisation of sex within marriage on the word of the wife, soon we may see false dowry cases disappearing, and disgruntled wives using yet another favourable section to bring the husband and his family to the negotiating table.
Amidst this update, the National Family Health Survey 5 has come up with a recent survey which states:
82 per cent can say no to their husband if they do not want to have sexual intercourse.
Marital rape is an exception to the definition of ‘rape’ under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and means that a man forcing himself on his wife aged above 18 years cannot be prosecuted. However, the NFHS-5 report, released last week by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, states,
More than four in five women (82 per cent) can say no to their husband if they do not want to have sexual intercourse. Women are most likely to be able to say no in Goa (92 per cent) and least likely to be able to say no in Arunachal Pradesh (63 per cent) and Jammu & Kashmir (65 per cent).
During the survey, men were asked some additional questions to assess gender attitudes. These pertained to a situation when a woman refuses to have sex with her husband when he wants her to. Men were asked whether they believe they have the right to four kinds of behaviour:
- Get angry and reprimand wife
- Refuse to give wife money or other means of financial support
- Use force and have sex with wife even if she doesn’t want to
- Go and have sex with another woman
The survey further stated,
Only 6 per cent of men age 15-49 agree that men have the right to display all four of these behaviours if a wife refuses him sex, and 72 per cent do not agree with any of the four behaviours. However, 19 per cent of men do agree that a husband has the right to get angry and reprimand a woman if she refuses to have sex with her husband.
The report added,
In almost all states, the percentage of men who agree with none of the four behaviours is well above 70 per cent, and the percentage of men who agree with none of the four behaviours is less than 50 per cent only in Punjab (21 per cent), Chandigarh (28 per cent), Karnataka (45 per cent), and Ladakh (46 per cent). The percentage of men who agree with none of the four behaviours has decreased by 5 percentage points since NFHS-4 when it was 77 per cent.
In a country of 1.4 billion people, where 50% of the population is Male, should India bring in yet another Gender Biased One Sided Law in favour of wives – a law which will be used less, but the extent of misuse can be anyone’s guess.
To all arguing “which law is not misused” : Which law in India is based on sole testimony of a woman, without evidences, witness, circumstantial corroboration, medical report? If a wife charges her husband of raping her months/years ago, sympathy towards word of the wife will prevail, and even if husband is acquitted, it will take years and years of running around courts at the cost of losing dignity in society and loss of career.
India should focus on understanding changing relationships in 2022 and bring in a law which can allow divorce on grounds of non-compatibility between a couple. In the absence of such a ground for divorce, women in India misuse existing laws, trying to charge husbands under various acts, either to get rid of them or to settle the divorce with huge alimony.
Leave your thoughts on the tweet below which is marked to our Prime Minister, Home Minister & Law Minister.
82% Indian Women Can Say No To Sex In Marriage: NFHS Survey 5 | Does India Need #MaritalRape Law?
— Men’s Day Out (@MensDayOutIndia) May 10, 2022
▪️We are not advocating rape within marriage
▪️We are against Criminalisation of Sex within Marriage -which can be termed as Rape only on Testimony of Wifehttps://t.co/TnJpzTW7C2
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Marital Rape PIL | Read Written Submissions By Advocate Raj Kapoor For Hridey NGO, & Men Welfare Trust
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