Section 375 Vs Happily Ever After

Yaminee, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun

Introduction

On 3rd December 2021, there was yet another case filed in the honourable High Court of Delhi. In a country with more than 4.7 crore pending cases, there were chances that this case would just go by as a breeze, but as a matter of fact, it did not.

This case was Khusbhboo Saifi vs Union of India. The petition more or less summarised to the basic objective of criminalising marital rape.

Rape is defined as the Crime of sexual intercourse without the victim's consent, often involving the use or threat or force as per Oxford Reference. What the definition lags is the result of the heinous crime. This inhuman act leads to the making of a depressive, traumatised and sad human being who is left to survive and live through the memory of the worst incident of his or her life.

According to section 376 of the Indian Penal Code, “Whoever, except in the cases provided for in sub-section, commits rape, shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment of either description for a term which [shall not be less than ten years, but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine].”

Marital rape refers to the execution of unwanted intercourse by a man on his wife who did not give consent and was forced to the act by violence or threat.

When a couple is wed, it is believed in our nation that they are to be in holy matrimony for seven lifetimes. India has a $50 billion wedding industry as per latest research. People spend their lifetime’s earnings to organize a wedding. Now imagine, a $50 billion dollar industry comes shattering down to the statistics that 83 per cent of married women in India between the ages of 15 and 49 have accused their husbands of sexual violence while 7 per cent have called the former husband a perpetrator, according to the 2015-16 National Family Health Survey. Seems pretty ironic for that.