Getty ImagesWarning: This report contains some disturbing details
The Indian court’s ruling that “unnatural sex” of men was forced with their wife has sparked a new call for better protection of married women, not crime.
The controversial order has also highlighted the issue of marital rape in the country, which stubbornly refused to criminalize it.
Earlier this week, a high court judge in Chhattisgarh, Central India, released a 40-year-old man convicted in court in 2019 of rape and unnatural sex. .
The lower court also found that he was guilty of “negligent murder that is not a murder.” He was sentenced to “10 years of strict imprisonment” at each count, with all sentences being carried out simultaneously.
However, on Monday, High Court Judge Narendra Kumar Vias said that since India has not admitted rape of the couple, the husband cannot be considered guilty of unconsensual gender or unconsensual unnatural sexual conduct. He said, acquitted all the charges.
The judgement is raging as activists, lawyers and campaigners renew their calls to criminalize Indian marital rape.
“It’s unacceptable to see this man leave. This judgment may be legally correct, but it is ethically and morally abomination,” said lawyer and gender rights activist Sriti Chauhan.
“It is the darkest time in our legal system to say that an order exempts a man from such a crime, is not a crime,” she told the BBC.
“It has stirred us to the heart of it. This changes quickly and needs to change.”
Getty ImagesChhattisgarh’s lawyer Priyanka Shukla said such judgments “send a message that you have rights because you are your husband.
She added that this is not the first time a court has made such a decision, and there is always rage.
“This time, the anger was so scary that the woman died.”
Court documents can be harsh readings.
According to the prosecutor, the case was reported on December 11, 2017, when her husband, who worked as a driver, “had unnatural sex with the victim against her will… causing a lot of pain for her.” It happened at night.
After he went to work, she sought help from his sister and another relative.
In her statement to the police and dying declaration to the magistrate, the woman said she was sick “due to strong sex by her husband.”
A dying declaration has weight in court, and legal experts say it is generally sufficient for a conviction, unless it is inconsistent with other evidence.
During the 2019 conviction of the man, the courts relied heavily on dying declarations and posthumous reports. This is because “the cause of death is peritonitis and rectal perforation” – simply suffering serious injuries to the abdomen and rectum.
But Judge Vias looked at the matter differently. He questioned the “holiness” of the dying statement, pointing out that some of the witnesses had retracted their statements and most importantly stated that rape of the couple was not an Indian crime. .
Getty ImagesThe lower court’s conviction was “the rarest of the rarest cases,” Shukla said, “probably because a woman has died.”
“However, what shocks me about the High Court’s order is that there are no sympathetic comments from the judge.”
Given the nature of the attack, the High Court’s order came as a shock to many who believe that judges should not dismiss the case so lightly.
India is in over 30 countries along with Pakistan, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, and rape in marriage is not a criminal offence.
Many petitions have been filed in recent years in sought to defeat Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code, which has existed since 1860.
British colonial laws include some “exemptions,” or situations where sex is not rape – and one of them is “the man with his own wife” if she is not under the age of 15.
The UK banned rape in 1991, but India, which recently rewritten the criminal law, held regression laws in its new law books.
The idea is rooted in the belief that sexual consent is “implicit” in marriage, and the wife cannot retract it later. The campaigner says such arguments are unacceptable for this day and age, and says that forced sex is rape no matter who.
However, in countries where marriage and family are considered sacred, this issue has polarised views and there is a strong resistance to the idea of criminalizing marital rape.
The Indian government, religious leaders and male rights activists are strongly opposed to the move.
Last October, the government told the Supreme Court that criminalising rape by couples was “overly severe.” The federal home department said “it could lead to serious obstacles in the marriage system.”
Authorities also argue that there are sufficient laws to protect married women from sexual violence. But campaigners say India cannot hide behind the old-fashioned laws to deny women’s body institutions.
Getty Images“Many people say the constitution cannot enter your bedroom,” Chauhan said.
“But doesn’t it give women the fundamental right to safety and safety, like all citizens? That we remain quiet when women have to face this level of violence. So, what redundant country do we live in?” she asks.
Violence in marriage is ramping in India.
A recent government survey found that 32% of married women face physical, sexual or emotional violence by their husbands, and 82% experience sexual violence by their husbands.
And even that doesn’t give the real scale of the problem, Shukla said.
“In my experience, women are not trusted when complaining. Everyone says it must be fake. That case is taken seriously by women die, It’s a particularly scary time when the attack is particularly scary,” the lawyer said.
Ms Chauhan believes nothing will change until the law changes.
“We need to criminalize rape of couples. A wife who can’t get justice after such a horrifying incident wasn’t born out of anger, but rather a serious (and) well thought out national. It deserves a campaign.”
She added that government and male activists are trying to project it as a “male-versus-women argument.”
“However, the demand for criminalizing rape by couples is not for men, but for the safety and well-being of women. Isn’t it important to ensure women’s safety?”
