Why hasn’t marital rape been criminalised in India yet?

In 2017, the Supreme Court, in Independent Thought v. Union of India, refused to delve into the question of marital rape of adult women while examining an exception to Section 375 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which allows a man to force sex on his wife. Recent rulings by High Courts have been contradictory — one backed marital rape as a valid ground for divorce, while another granted anticipatory bail to a man while concluding that forcible sex is not an “illegal thing”. Why do differences persist despite the Justice J.S. Verma Committee recommendation to criminalise marital rape? Here we discuss why marital rape has not been criminalised in India yet. Guests: Manuraj Shunmugasundaram, advocate, Madras High Court, and spokesperson of the DMK; Shraddha Chaudhary, lecturer, Jindal Global Law School, Sonepat, and Ph.D candidate (law), University of Cambridge Host: Sudipta Datta Read the Parley article here. Write to us with comments and feedback at [email protected]