The Congress leader says that consent is a lesser concept.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said consent is underrepresented in Indian society, but it should be kept in the foreground to ensure women’s safety.
His remarks came in the middle of a debate calling for criminalizing marital rape.
Read also | Government’s strategy to delay consultation on marital rape: Women’s Group
Earlier in the week, hearing several petitions, the Delhi High Court had questioned the exemption given to marital rape.
Last Tuesday, a bench of Justices Rajiv Shakdher and C. Hari Shankar asked, “If a married woman loses her right to say ‘no’ and if 50 countries have made marital rape a crime then it is wrong.”
“Consent is one of the most underrated concepts in our society. This has to be taken forward to ensure the safety of women. #MaritalRape,” Mr Gandhi said on Twitter, weighing in on the side of the debate that seeks to stop marital rape.
Read also | Major decisions paralyzed government’s defense on marital rape
Section 375 of the IPC defines rape as all forms of sexual assault involving unconsensual intercourse with a woman.
However, from exception 2 to S. 375 exempts undesired sexual intercourse between a husband and wife over the age of 15 years from the definition of “rape” and exempts the husband from prosecution.
The law holds that a wife gives her husband a permanent consent to sexual intercourse after marriage.
While activists have argued that such an exemption violates married women’s right to equality, the counter argument has been that criminalization may be “misused” to settle scores.
,