Warning: This report contains some disturbing details
The decision of the Indian Court that a man is forced to “unnatural sex” with his wife did not insult to a huge anger and caused renewed calls to better protection of married women.
The controversial order also brought back to the center of attention the issue of marital rape in a country that stubbornly refused to criminalize him.
Earlier this week, the High Court Judge in the Central Indian State of CHHATTISGARH liberated the 40-year-old man convicted by the first-instance court in 2019 rape and unnatural sex with his wife, who died within a few hours of the alleged attack.
The lower court also declared a man guilty of “guilt of murder that is not murder.” He was sentenced to a “rigorous prison sentence for 10 years” on each point, with all the sentences that should be launched at the same time.
But on Monday, the justice of the High Court of Narendra Kumar Vyas liberated the man of all charges, saying that, since India did not acknowledge marital rape, her husband cannot be guilty of an unconensual gender or any non -consensual unnatural sexual act.
The verdict was welcomed by anger because activists, lawyers and campaigns renew their calls to criminalize marital rape in India.
“Looking at this man leaves is unacceptable. This judgment can be right, but it is ethically and morally disgusting,” said a lawyer and activist for gender rights to suritit Crown Chauhan.
“A command that releases a man of such a crime, say that it is not a crime, is the darkest clock in our legal system,” she told the BBC.
“That shook us to the core. That must change quickly and change.”
Priyanka Shukla, a Chhattisgarhu lawyer, said that this kind of verdict “sends a message that, since you are a husband, you have the right. And you can do everything, you can even escape with the murder.”
She added that this was not the first time the court had reached such a judgment, and there was always anger.
“This time, anger is more because she is so creepy and the woman died.”
Court documents make a dark reading.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the incident happened on the night of December 11, 2017, when the husband, who worked as a driver, “committed unnatural sex with the victim against her will … causing her a lot of pain.”
After he went to work, she asked for help from his sister and another relative, who took her to the hospital where she died a few hours later.
In her statement to the police and her declaration for the dishes, the woman said she was getting sick “because of her husband’s sister sexual intercourse.”
Declaration that dies carries weight in court, and legal experts say that this is generally enough to condemn, unless it is contrary to other evidence.
While condemning the man in 2019, the first -instance court relying on a large extent to her Declaration of Dying and Post -Murm, in which “the cause of death was peritonitis and rectal perforation” – simply put, serious injuries to her abdomen and rectum.
Justice Vyas, however, saw things differently – he questioned the “holiness” of the dying statement, noted that some witnesses had withdrawn their statements and, most importantly, said marital rape in India was not an offense.
The conviction of the lower court was “the rarest of a rare case,” said Ms. Shukla, “probably because the woman died.”
“But what is shocking in the command of the High Court is that there is no sympathetic comment on the judge.”
Given the nature of the attack, the High Court’s command came as a shock for many who believe that the judge did not need to reject the case so easily.
India is among more than 30 countries – along with Pakistan, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia – where marital rape is not a criminal offense.
In recent years, numerous petitions have been filed with the abolition of section 375 Indian Criminal Code, which has existed since 1860.
The British law of the colonial era mentions several “exemptions” – or a situation where sex is not rape – and one of them is a “man with his wife” if he is not under 15 years of age.
Britain banned her marriage rape in 1991, but India, who recently transcribed her criminal law, retained a regressive law in her new book of Statute.
The idea is rooted in the belief that consent to sex is “meant” in marriage and that his wife cannot withdraw it later. The campaigns say that such an argument is unsustainable today and that forced sex is rape, no matter who does it.
But in a country where marriage and family are considered to be a sacrosanct, the question has a polarized opinion and there is a strong resistance to the idea of criminalization of marital rape.
Indian government, religious leaders and activists for men’s rights strongly opposed this move.
In October last year, the Government told the Supreme Court that the criminalization of marital rape would be “overly sharp”. The Federal Ministry of the Interior has announced that “it can lead to serious disorders in the marriage institution”.
Authorities also insist that there is enough law to protect married women from sexual violence. But the campaign says that India cannot be hidden behind archaic laws to deny the female physical agency.
“Many people say the Constitution cannot enter your bedroom,” Mrs. Chauhan said.
“But does not assign women – as well as all citizens – fundamental rights to security and security? What excess country do we live in that we remain quiet when a woman has to face this level of violence?” She asks.
Violence within marriage is widespread in India.
According to recent government survey32% of married women face physical, sexual or emotional violence by her husbands, and 82% experienced sexual violence from her husbands.
Even this does not give the true proportion of the problem, said Mrs. Shukla, because most women do not report violence, especially sexual violence, out of embarrassment.
“In my experience, women are not believed when they complain, everyone says it has to be false. The only time such cases are taken seriously when a woman dies or the attack is particularly awful,” the lawyer said.
Mrs. Chauhan believes that nothing will change until the law changes.
“We need to criminalize marital rape. A wife who does not get justice after such a terrible incident deserves a campaign throughout the country, which is not born of anger but is serious [and] well -designed. “
She added that government and men’s activists try to project this as “men against a woman’s debate.”
“But demand for criminalization of marital rape is not against men, but for the safety and well -being of women. Isn’t it important to ensure women’s safety?”
