Married women of India still far away from physical agency

In the 1970s, the so-called division between the ‘private’ and ‘public’ spheres of life was challenged by radical feminists. In her essay ‘The Personal is Political’, Carol Hanish asserts that such distinctions are “misleading” and that “the lives of women were not the result of personal choices, but part of a systematic patriarchal oppression, and their private lives.” I had political dimensions, be it at a wedding, in the kitchen, in the bedroom, in the nursery or at work.”

As a result, many problems perceived as ‘personal’ especially ‘physical rights’ such as sexuality, abortion, rape, etc., have since been raised on public platforms.

Globally, 19th-century legal discourse interpreted family conduct in terms of ‘natural law’ that “every person has the power of the law over children and wives”, and considered marital rape an ‘oxymoron’, “A wife legally belongs to the husband.” sexual property.” Most post-colonial countries, including India, defended marital-rape immunity on the basis of “preservation of the institution of the family” and “irrevocable consent in marriage.” In 2017, India also took the stance that “marital rape” cannot be added as an IPC offense, as it may have a destabilizing effect on the institution of marriage” and “become an easy tool to harass husbands”.

Feminists of the 1990s drew attention to macro-socio-legal human rights issues such as sexual autonomy, universal femininity and gender violence, with the 1993 United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (DEVAW) calling for “any violence against women”. Violence” declared. including marital rape as a violation of fundamental human rights.” The Beijing Declaration of 1995 recognized it as “a form of violence against women in the family”. The concept of ‘safe sex’ also emerged as a public-health issue in the wake of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In many liberal societies, marriage also morphed into a ‘mate relationship’ and a ‘partnership of equals’. In the changing global scenario, India declared at a United Nations forum in 2015 that “the concept of marital rape, as understood internationally, is due to factors such as education level, poverty, myriad social customs in the Indian context”. cannot be suitably applied in … and the mindset of the society.”

As of 2019, more than 150 countries made it legal to file criminal complaints against partners for non-consensual sex, while India remained one of 36 where legal means made marital rape the “holy veil of marriage”. kept behind.

A 2021 report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) states that “nearly half of women and adolescent girls in developing countries are denied the power and agency to make choices about their bodies without fear or violence.” is”, and 20 countries still ‘marry you’. Rapist laws. In India, there may be no such specific law, but in many rape cases, the offer of marriage has directly or indirectly reduced the punishment.

A United Nations survey in 2013 found that one in four men in six countries, including India, said they had raped a partner. Since this is not a crime in India, we do not have any separate data. However, the December 2020 round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) reported that more than a quarter of women surveyed in seven states said they had been victims of domestic violence, including sexual violence, compared to the NFHS for 2015-16. reported that an “average Indian woman is 17 times more likely than others to have suffered sexual violence from her husband. Furthermore, only 5% of women are the same with their husbands (IHDS, 2011-12) and 2018 research data Confirmed that ‘consent’ is often missing in Indian marriages, as 93% of married Indians had an arranged marriage. State laws on rape, kidnapping, kidnapping, theft, etc. often give consent couples, while recent ‘love jihad’ laws have turned inter-religious couples into criminals.

The Justice Verma Commission had in 2013 recommended removal of the clause 2 exception for determination of culpability only on consent. Justice Chandrachud upheld the “feminist critique of privacy” as an intrinsic part of Article 21 in a major 2018 plurality judgment, saying that “any contemporary construction of privacy must emancipate individuals, whether at home.” Marriage, be it within the family or society, and the criminalization of marital rape is not about the invasion of the bedroom by the state, but about ensuring the principles of consent, dignity and autonomy”. The Gujarat High Court had also recently remarked that “the time has come to explicitly treat marital rape as arbitrary and to make sexual autonomy a fundamental right of a woman”.

Nevertheless, several attitude surveys in the US show that even though forced sex in marriage is illegal, many consider “wife rape to be less serious than a similar attack on an acquaintance or stranger”, and ” Even the victim himself”. Sometimes this act is not seen as rape”.

As the Delhi High Court held that the matter “cannot be adjourned endlessly”, it has shown a sense of urgency. However, even if the legal battle is finally won, perhaps a long battle awaits us against the ‘moral guardians’ of society. Can bring justice to women.

Archana Dutta is the former Director General of Doordarshan and All India Radio; and former Press Secretary to the President of India.