Marital Rape: Do We Need A New Law?

The time has come for a decision on criminalising marital rape. But the complex social and cultural realities make it a tough job

- Soni Mishra

Shabnam Yusuf had an arranged marriage in December 2016. Twenty-one years old then, the Delhi girl wanted to pursue higher studies. But her parents told her they had found an excellent match for her. He had a good job at a pharmaceutical company, they said. Reluctantly, she agreed. She had long conversations with her fiancé on the phone, and he seemed nice.

The nice man turned into a beast on their wedding night, and her romantic idea of marital bliss died a brutal death. Shabnam pleaded to her husband that she was unwell, but he did not listen. He raped her several times, until she fainted. The next day, she told the women of the house what happened. They said it was normal, and remarked she might not have been prepared for it.

Shabnam left her husband’s house after a few months. As her parents were not supportive, she took refuge in a women’s shelter. She went to the police, who filed a case under Domestic Violence Act, and attempted mediation between the couple. But that was not what she wanted. She wanted justice.

However, according to India’s rape laws, Shabnam’s husband did not commit any crime. Marital rape is not recognized as a crime under Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code, which is invoked in cases of rape. An exception to marital rape has been written into the law as “Sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under fifteen years of age, is not rape.” Shabnam has filed a public interest litigation in the Delhi High Court, asking the exception to marital rape to be struck down as unconstitutional.