India currently has a glaring gap in the legal system – marital rape, the non-consensual sexual intercourse by a spouse, is still legal in our country. Despite ongoing efforts to criminalize it, it still persists making countless married women suffer, denying them the basic right to bodily autonomy and subjecting them to continued trauma. Without legal protection, these women endure repeated violations within the confines of marriage, often with little recourse or support.
Speaking of which, a woman had filed an FIR against her husband for having unnatural sexual intercourse with her. Challenging the FIR, the husband moved to Madhya Pradesh High Court and claimed that since they are husband and wife, any unnatural sex between them is not an offence under Section 377 of IPC, reported Live Law.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court, upon hearing the case, observed that since marital rape has not been recognized/criminalized under Indian law, unnatural sex by a man with a wife won’t amount to rape as the “consent of the wife becomes immaterial in such cases”.
“…any sexual intercourse or sexual act by the husband with her wife not below the age of fifteen years is not a rape, then under these circumstances, absence of consent of wife for unnatural act loses its importance,” the court stated.
This judgement by the high court angered several people online who slammed the court for its regressive and patriarchal observations. They justified how more and more women are saying no to marriage because incidents like these rob a woman of her agency and reduce them to mere sexual objects.
Here’s a look at some of the responses to the court’s decision:
When men cry "why are more and more women refusing to marry or have children" – this is why. Women are treated sub humans in marriage. The whole institution is hostile to them. Better single than marrying a rapist and giving up agency. https://t.co/J3vqTxjUng
— Rituparna Chatterjee (@MasalaBai) May 3, 2024
Forget the law, use common sense. If your wife says no, you better respect it.
If the law is contrary to common human decency & common sense, the law needs to change. https://t.co/H8g0Kb0RTQ— Soumitra 🌻 সৌমিত্র சௌமித்ரா سومترہ (@netshrink) May 3, 2024
Reservations in judiciary is the need of the hour. These uncles need to be overthrown. Bring in more women, oppressed people and queer folks into the judiciary. https://t.co/eVDPF29wua
— Sri Krishna 🌈 (@srikri_a) May 4, 2024
Got to applaud Indian courts for showing the real value of marriage for women https://t.co/KIioPVnt6N
— Veena (@veenavenugopal) May 3, 2024
Bloody fucking outrageous… don’t ever want to hear shit from Indian “men’s rights activists” until this bullshit is rectified https://t.co/EfgMeqY8A1
— Metro 🇮🇳🌹🇵🇸 (@metr0politics) May 3, 2024
Wtf is this??A good man anyways doesn’t need any law to respect his wife’s No but this is clearly giving green signal 2 all those criminal/misogynist men who treats their wives as sex object 2 not only rape them but to also make them believe that yes UR wife is indeed an object? https://t.co/ePaAdnEiiN
— 𝒮 ✨ (@Sweety_speaks) May 4, 2024
Something is seriously wrong with a society where such things are normalised! Where have we gone wrong? Need to raise our boys better…
— Amight (@amight) May 3, 2024
So regressive!! Reflects the patriarchal and misogynistic mindset of the judges. They have completely lost it.😡😡
Fundamental right to say no doesn’t disappear just cuz a woman is married. Must be challenged in the #SupremeCourt and the judges need to be educated on #Consent.— Abhishek G. Bhaya अभिषेक অভিষেক ابھیشک 加冕礼 (@abhishekbhaya) May 3, 2024
What are your views on this issue?