India asks top court not to toughen marital rape penalties

In an ongoing event brought by politicians who want to abolish it, India’s state has asked the country’s top prosecutor not to enact tougher criminal penalties for marital rape.

The 19th century penal code, which was introduced during British colonial rule of India, directly says that” physical works by a guy with his own wife are not murder.”

Despite a decade-long legal challenge from activists who want to create marital rape improper, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration passed a revised code in July that still includes that provision.

The Indian interior ministry affidavit to the Supreme Court on Thursday ( October 3 ) stated that while marital rape should result in “penal consequences,” it should be treated more leniently by the court system than rape committed outside of marriage.

According to The Indian Express paper,” A father certainly does not have any basic right to offend the acceptance of his wife,” according to the affidavit.

However, it is possible to argue that making the practice of “rape” as recognized in India to the relationship institution is unduly harsh.

The latest penal code in India mandates a minimal 10-year word for rape-related convictions.

The government’s assertion said that conjugal murder was sufficiently addressed in existing legislation, including a 2005 laws protecting women from domestic violence.

Although that law recognizes physical abuse as a form of home violence, it does not impose any criminal penalties on those who commit it.

A further part of the penal code sentences a father to three years in prison for” cruelty” committed against their spouse.

Six per share of American married people aged 18 to 49 have reported marriage sexual assault, according to the president’s latest National Family Health Survey conducted from 2019 to 2021.