Advocate Anuja Kapur on Why Marital Rape is Not Criminalized in India

Renowned Advocate, Criminal Psychologist and Social Activist, Anuja Kapur, talks about why marital rape is not criminalized in India even though the plight of sexual abuse faced by women is a stark documented reality.

UN Population Fund data states that more than two-thirds of married women in India, between the ages of 15 to 49 have been beaten, raped, or forced to provide sex.

Anuja says the jurisdiction of sankar and sarkar inhibits criminalization of marital rape in our country. Marriage is a sacred institution heavily policed by society. If marital rape is criminalized then the piety of this union will be at stake. She highlights the unfavorable socio-economic condition of women that further prevents them from filing a complaint against their abusers. The attitude of judiciary and law also dissuades a woman from coming forward because talking about marital rape and non-consensual intercourse will be a “compounding issue” for many which should be resolved within four walls of a home.

Being a developing nation that is pioneering in the branches of technology, medicine, science and art, India has time and again failed to protect its women. We might be prepared to launch a satellite on the moon but our patriarchal ego is so fragile that acknowledging a woman’s plight becomes detrimental to the sanskar quotient of the entire nation.