The marrying kind

Across the world,legal frameworks have struggled with the question of marital rape,and whether it should be criminalised. Some countries,like India,treat it on par with domestic abuse and subject to civil remedies,and criminalise it only if the spouses are separated or if the woman is a minor. Apart from the social reflex that assumes that men have a right to their wives sexual and reproductive services,the burden of evidence has also been held up as a reason to exempt marital rape how would one prove that a woman,presumably used to having sex with her husband,has not consented in this specific instance? However,one by one,most progressive legal systems have come to recognise that spousal rape is a crime,and India remains one of the shameful exceptions. The parliamentary committee speaks of family values,but does not acknowledge that Indian women face the greatest violence and trauma within their own homes. Unlike rape by a stranger,marital rape is usually a long-running pattern of abuse.

Marital rape is a crucial test for any jurisdiction that claims to treat women as equal citizens. It compels separation of the strands that make rape a crime the aspect of forceful assault and battery,the sexual nature of the act and its social reverberations. In a society that values virginity and chastity,and thinks of rape primarily as a raid on a womans honour,marital rape is not seen as a problem after all,there is no shame in it. However,if rape is properly understood as a violation of a womans sexual autonomy,her right to decide if,when and with whom she wants to have sex,then marital rape is a clear and heinous crime. When the final bill on sexual violence is formulated,the Justice Verma committees view must win over the standing committees family values.