My Wife…My Property

In a strange contradiction, while Indian law recognises the power of women to say “no” in consensual sex, sexual acts by a man with his wife are not seen as rape. This is violative of Article 14

- Dr Swati Jindal Garg

“It doesn’t matter how rich or poor a person is, what gender or social class, or how much fame or education she possesses. Verbal, mental, and physical abuse can happen to anyone. It doesn't matter what a woman’s ethnicity is because the only distinguishing color of abuse is black-and-blue.”

—La Toya Jackson, an American singer

Domestic violence is an inherent part of the lives of most women in India. As per a National, Crime Records Bureau report— Crime in India—about 70 percent of women in India are victims of domestic violence. One of the biggest forms of this is marital rape.

Even though the power to say “no” has been given to Indian women in matters of consensual sex, yet as per Exception 2 of Section 375—sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under 15 years— is not rape. It decriminalizes marital rape in India.

This is an unpleasant surprise as marital rape has been impeached in more than 100 countries and despite various leaps and bounds that Indian society has made in the past decade or so, especially after the 13th Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2013, the noncriminalisation of marital rape in India undermines the dignity and human rights of women.

The impunity provided to the husband under the law from the offense of marital rape stems from Exception 2 of Section 375 on the grounds that there is an “implied consent” between a husband and a wife after marriage. This implies that both have consented to sexual intercourse and it cannot be otherwise. In other words, it is presumed that a wife delivers perpetual consent to have sex with her husband after marrying him.