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Impact of Criminalization of Marital Rape on the Prospects of Marriage: A Socio-Legal Study
Subject area: Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities · Area of research: Socio-Legal
Abstract
Marital rape has always been a taboo subject in India however it is gaining prominence among Indians, with a lot of them wanting it to be criminalized. Although I have argued for the criminalization of Marital Rape in India in one of my earlier papers, it would be deceiving to assume that it would come without any cost. One of the main effects it would bring is men distancing themselves from the institution of marriage because why would someone willingly expose themselves to a high probability of legal attacks which in turn would result in social attacks in this day and age where women have been witnessed to be vengeful and using legal tools to harass men such as 498-A IPC, domestic violence, and regarding the criminalization of marital rape, higher probability of an increase in cases of false accusations of rape due to some key reasons discussed in detail in the article. This article does not focus on whether Marital Rape should be criminalized or not rather it focuses on the social ramifications born out of legal ramifications the criminalization of marital rape would bring, along with a small research study among the students and faculty members of Baba Saheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, the purpose of which would be finding out whether the willingness to marry in unmarried men or women is impacted if marital rape were to be criminalized in India. Findings answer in affirmative.
Keywords
Criminalization, Harassment, Marital Rape, Offence
References
[1] Independent thought v. Union of India, AIR 2017 SC 4904.
[2] J S Verma Committee, “Report of the Committee on Amendments to Criminal Law, 2013” 1 (2013)
[3] Independent thought v. Union of India, AIR 2017 SC 4904.
[4] KS Puttaswamy v. Union of India, AIR 2018 SC 4161
[5] X v. X, Mat. Appeal No. 151 of 2015, decided on 30-07-2021.
[6] Hrishikesh Sahoo v. State of Karnataka, Writ Petition No.48367 OF 2018.
[7] Kaleeswaram Raj, “Why Karnataka marital rape verdict is problematic” The Indian Express, April. 15, 2022.
[8] Farhan v. State, Writ Petition (Criminal) no: 964/2017).
[9] Prof. Dr. Mrs. Hema Menon, “Judicial Response to Marital Rape in India” VIII International Journal of creative research thoughts 1503-1508 (2020).
[10] Sarthak Makkar, “Marital Rape: A Non-criminalized Crime in India” Harvard Human Rights Journal (2019).
[11] Kartikey Bajpai, “How Marital Rape Is Legalized in India & How to Challenge It”, IV Indian Journal of Law and Legal Research 472-478 (2022).
[12] Jill Elaine Hasday, “Contest and Consent: A Legal History of Marital Rape” California Law Review 1375-1498 (2000).
[13] The Constitution of India.
[14] The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Act 45 of 1860).
How to cite this paper
@article{1703949,
author = {Kartikey Bajpai, Dr. Manoj Kumar Tripathi},
title = {Impact of Criminalization of Marital Rape on the Prospects of Marriage: A Socio-Legal Study},
journal = {Iconic Research And Engineering Journals},
year = {2022},
volume = {6},
number = {6},
pages = {154-161},
issn = {2456-8880},
url = {https://www.irejournals.com/formatedpaper/17039491.pdf},
abstract = {Marital rape has always been a taboo subject in India however it is gaining prominence among Indians, with a lot of them wanting it to be criminalized. Although I have argued for the criminalization of Marital Rape in India in one of my earlier papers, it would be deceiving to assume that it would come without any cost. One of the main effects it would bring is men distancing themselves from the institution of marriage because why would someone willingly expose themselves to a high probability of legal attacks which in turn would result in social attacks in this day and age where women have been witnessed to be vengeful and using legal tools to harass men such as 498-A IPC, domestic violence, and regarding the criminalization of marital rape, higher probability of an increase in cases of false accusations of rape due to some key reasons discussed in detail in the article. This article does not focus on whether Marital Rape should be criminalized or not rather it focuses on the social ramifications born out of legal ramifications the criminalization of marital rape would bring, along with a small research study among the students and faculty members of Baba Saheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, the purpose of which would be finding out whether the willingness to marry in unmarried men or women is impacted if marital rape were to be criminalized in India. Findings answer in affirmative.},
keywords = {Criminalization, Harassment, Marital Rape, Offence},
month = {December},
}