Just recently the court of Delhi has so wisely decided that forced sexual intercourse in marriage is not considered rape. What’s extremely hard to digest, is that the court of Delhi believes that just because a woman and man are married means the man can force the woman to have sex. Didn’t they get the memo that any type of forced sexual intercourse is rape? Rape is defined as, “any act of sexual intercourse that is forced upon a person.” Marital rape shouldn’t be treated any differently. Women in India aren’t getting the justice they deserve because they still haven’t been given a voice to be able to speak up.

Last October, a woman filed a report against her “husband” for drugging her, taking her away to Uttar Pradesh to get married, and then raping her. And of course what does the superb judge of the court of Delhi have to say about this? That there wasn’t enough evidence that was “clinching or convincing” to prove that the husband had indeed drugged the woman. Lawyer and human rights activist, Viranda Gover, states that after this case the court should be forced, “to reckon with the fact that there is forced sex in marriage and it is not hunky dory.”

Innocent women are being forced into marriage, forced into sex, and forced to remain quiet while the guilty are freely roaming the streets. How many more innocent lives are going to be destroyed for the court to finally realize its mistake? The man continues to state that the woman filed the report against him from pressure of her parents who weren’t accepting of the marriage. It is a well-known fact that rape in India is viewed as something to shame the family, causing some families to even hide the crime as a way of saving their reputation. A panel of lawmakers believes that a marital rape law, “has the potential of destroying the institution of marriage,” and “if marital rape is brought under the law, the entire family system will be under great stress.”

A marital rape law is the solution to fixing the institution of marriage. If a law is passed making marital rape illegal, marriage will be more than just a man’s free ticket to forced sex whenever he wants. Marriage will become what it’s really supposed to be: the joining of two people who are in love and want to start a family of their own.

Indian society needs to find a way out of this loophole that men have found to rape women and not be punished. The question that arises is how can we kick some sense into the court of Delhi to snatch away this ticket men have so easily found?

[Image Attribute: Debarshi Ray via Compfight cc]