Marital rape: UPA, NDA on same page, f avour status quo

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 31

The Congress and the BJP may not agree on most of the things but on the decriminalising marital rape, the two parties think alike.

Much like the BJP-led NDA’s stand on the issue, the Congress-led UPA had considered the proposal to de-criminalise rape inside marriage, but decided against it. The discussions had followed a recommendation to remove IPC exceptions to marital rape by the Justice JS Verma Committee, constituted to review criminal law after the 2012 Delhi gangrape case.

The proposal was not taken forward in view of what Congress sources now describe as “the extreme sensitivity of the subject, contrarian views on it and its potential to de-stabilise the institution of marriage”.

The UPA, which implemented most of the recommendations of the Verma panel, dithered on the one on marital rape on grounds that it posed challenges of enforcement and raised possibilities of abuse of law.

Former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, who was at the helm at the time, says the subject requires cautious handling. “The plea to criminalise marital rape represents a blinkered view of social realities, law enforcement and the abuse of law. You cannot allow the police to invade the sanctity of the home. This is a highly sensitive subject and is best left to the legislature of the day,” he said.

Legal experts say a woman who suffers marital rape can even today petition the court for divorce and compensation on grounds of cruelty stemming from forced sexual intercourse.

The UPA during discussions on marital rape considered the reality of marriages in India being a sacrament rather than a contract. In the former arrangement, continuing consent for cohabitation is implied.

The Verma Committee had, however, said this: “Under the IPC, sexual inter-course without consent is prohibited. However, an exception to the offence of rape exists in relation to un-consented sexual inter-course by a husband upon a wife.” It recommended that the exception to marital rape should be removed.