HOW INDIA IS FAILING ITS WOMEN BY REFUSING TO CRIMINALISE MARITAL RAPE
“I want to sleep forever, wrapped around in my arms, my body only to myself! Ease to seek peace from the thoughts, the whispers, that helplessness in my mind, escalating with time!”
“Today I will pretend to love it, the way he likes it. At least I shall not be punished for not relishing it! I will compromise!”
“I went to the police station bruised all over, dripping in blood, and stumbling through my way. They treated me nicely and gave me a cup of tea along with some snacks. Later told me to go home and compromise”
“I told maa that I really can’t be like this! It hurts to be dying from inside. She shushed me and told “Shh! What will the society say! Go back to your home and compromise!”
Compromise – settling a dispute through a mutual concession! The word “mutual” shouts for its attention for being bilateral not unilateral!
But the scenario with the women here is completely out of the context! Women are slogging their ways just to save their marriage, so that they don’t face any abuses and taunts from our so called “Society”.
Marital rapes have become a growing concern and it’s high on the bars!
The number of cases reported against the marital rapes is seen to be 40 times greater than that against the others.
“It is concerning when a government whose stated intention is to secure women’s safety inside and outside the home, starts talking about culture and tradition to justify a crime,” says Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
After the famous “Nirbhaya Case”, where she even struggled for her peaceful last breath! That took place in December 2012 in Delhi, government decided to appoint three member commission, headed by justice J.S Verma. This commission’s aim being, the shoot-out of sexual violence. One of its recommendations was to criminalize marital rape, a genuine suggestion to which government turned a blind eye.
In India, one of the major factors escalating this crime is literacy rate. The male literacy rate is 75.96% and the female literacy rate is 54.28%. Due to this figure, child marriages are still alive.
Going by the above statement, our government again put us in a dilemma by raising two sides of a coin: The first one being, the legal age of a girl capable to consent to sex is from 16-18 years. Any sexual intercourse with a girl marked below this age, will be considered rape, even if she’s in a consensual relationship.
On the other hand, the legal age of the girl to be married is 18 years. Provided that they are over 15 years of age, it is considered legal for their husbands to have sex, irrespective of their will!
The blind so called protection and conservation of our so called Indian culture is one of the sole reasons for the suffrage.
“Many people were concerned that if made a crime, marital rape would be misused or be difficult to prove or would result in the unnecessary break-up of marriages, “quoted Leila Seth, former chief justice of Himachal Pradesh.
Despite of all these hurricanes, there’s yet another shocking statement made by the centre in response to this “soul-bleeding” crime. It responded naively to the matter, just by stating that section 498A (the harassment caused to a married woman by her husband and in-laws) of IPC has witnessed a lot more misuse against this section.
The problem here is not marriage but the patriarchal society. Many cases are not even reported as the women in the remote areas fear of “loss or respect and abuses”. Hence, they again COMPROMISE! In their terms!
I don’t realize how gravely you all look into the situation, but just remember the victims are daily on the verge of this:
“The blade talks to me, hushes me in the ear that it will all be ok! It’s just one cut, just a slice through my wrist and I will be released from the shackles of the untamed bond forever! It will all be ok! It will all be ok!”
This breaks the constitutional law of the Right to live! And Right to freedom! Doesn’t it? , which means it’s a crime and ought to be dealt with!
