Marital rape - is it not a crime?

I was doing some research on the net regarding rape victims for a script i was preparing. When I came across an interesting fact. In India marital rape is considered as a form of noncriminal domestic violence.

Yes marital rape is not a crime, but even more repressive is the law that allows a man to sue his wife for "Restitution of Conjugal Rights". If a woman separates from her husband, or lives in a different city due to work or other obligations, the man can go to the court and ask for restitution. In most cases, the courts order the women to go back to their husbands. While the law works both ways, allowing both men and women for suing their spouse, it is rarely used by women. Most often it is used against women who've left homes due to DV.

that jst 🤬 rape is rape married or not. 

Marital rape isn't considered rape here.

Akanksha what did you expect? That forum worships DV in the name of romance. 

Not just the brothers - women who see romanticism in being bullied and screamed at, or being taunted or see "mahaan sanskaars" in giving up their self-respect - they make it difficult for other women to live a respectable life too.

Those who champion subservient women and doormat wives forget that even Sita chose to be buried alive in earth's lap rather than go back to the husband who mistreated her.

Sati chose to immolate herself rather than listen to taunts. Parvati took the form of Durga and Kaali whenever someone tried to approach her without her permission. Even Shiv was denied entrance to her halls without her permission - which is why she set Ganesh as the sentry.

Draupadi on being outraged cursed her husbands and called them impotent and then cursed the entire clan for keeping silent - leading to its downfall.

Nowhere in the world is marital rape given legal sanction, here we have courts enforcing it. Judges give a verdict of not-guilty to a rapist if he promises to marry the girl he raped. Justice in India is still about "family prestige" rather than the rights of a woman as a human being.

Ok, so I did a little bit of research and was shocked , mortified and speechless, seeing how callous is our law against rape in general and am especially dumbfound when it comes to marital rape.

So according to Indian Penal Code, section 375, it is not considered marital rape if the wife is above 15yrs, now what BS is this. It is not even considered an offense.What a shame!
Even the domestic violence act ,2005,condones sexual abuse in a domestic relationship of marriage or a live-in, only if it is life threatening or grievously hurtful. It is not about the freedom of decision of a woman's wants.

Gross, guess we did a good job copying constitution all across the globe and forget to update it, by defination of rape, marriage, Indian law clearly tries to justify women as subversive and docile.

If the legal age to get married is 18yrs for girls then how can any law featuring marital rape have an age limit of 15yrs.

There is some Husband's association, which has defending marital rape by saying what does a man do if his wife denies him- an educated ignorants' association, class less gender.Men continue to skirt around the issues featuring women coz it undermines their authority.
Women politicians, NCWs , women judges please give a moment and think how you could have changed it all yet u remained muted and signed the deed with the devil.

I've said this earlier - a lot of mental attitude comes from mass media. Ina  movie if Shammi Kapoor or Aamir Khan is shown chasing a girl against her wishes and forcing their attention on her - it is considered romantic. When a hero kidnaps a girl and forces her to marry him and live in hardships it is considered macho. So entire generations are brain-washed into believing these myths.

Also mass media is responsible for wrong portrayal of law. In another serial on this same channel a girl who goes for annulment of her marriage on the grounds that her husband held a gun to her father's head and forced her to marry him is ordered by the court to live with the man for 6 months. Hello!! this is a mockery of the law. That marriage should've been annulled, That was an annulment case and not a Divorce case.

even Bidaai - the marriage was totally illegal. The man was not in his senses and the girl married under duress - both were grounds for getting the marriage declared null and void legally.

Women are always made to shut up and keep quiet and live with a lot of things. Women who are beaten up are advised to try for a child, as though a child will suddenly cure the man of his sadistic tendencies.

What the law lacks is teeth to protect the victims. In most cases we see the face and name of the victim being flashed repeatedly by all the media, while the faces of the criminals are either blurred or covered with mufflers. Even in  Guwahati case - I say cover the faces of the culprits to and fro from the jail to the courts, simply parade them naked on the streets, deny them any clothing for the duration of the case. We'll see an automatic decline in the case of female sexual harassment.

@Well, forget media , take the case of highly educated, successful women of substance like Kiran Bedi who famously tweeted that the vibes in pubs, bars etc are bad hence such crime happen whereas vibes at religious places are good so no crime- a former IPS officer, a decorated at that and the crusader of reforms makes this statement in public while saying y the girl was in pub.
NCW chairwoman-blaming a girl's clothes and the western influences as reason for the assaults.

Care to share y these women pick and choose occasions to exert their feminity- eg:Kiran bedi branded herself as 1st woman IPS , yet making the most ignorant statement about women being in pubs being influenced by bad vibes.

Why would you hesitate to "do unto others as they did to you" aren't these rapists and molesters a prime example of that? Give them hell and make them feel what a woman feels when put in a situation like that and they would hesitate to ever do something like this.

As for the movie examples - almost all movies are replete with themes and language like that. The entire trend of item songs and item girls is nothing but a blatant denial of a woman's existence as a person reducing her to the level of an item on the shop. Then the trend of Size zero figure, or that famous dialog "aunty mat bolo na" - why do women fall for such things?

Why do women strive to appear desirable in male eyes or hesitate to state their age?

Why should a woman not wear clothes that she is comfortable in? Be able to move around with full freedom? Live the way she likes? Why do women wake up their daughters at 7 in the morning, while the son is allowed to sleep till 10?

This is all a denial of rights of a woman as an independent sentient being. It is enforced by culture and society. Merely changing media portrayal will not change the environment today. Though it will go a long way towards it.

What is required is strong legal deterrents, social osctracism for the guilty, vocal women who change the people around them, education, empowerment and economic independence for women. Social change does not come in one day alone, nor can it come via one source alone.