Marital rape issue needs to be dealt with grace, you are entering someone’s bedroom: Maneka

Asserting marital rape to be a “sensitive” and “complicated” topic that needs to be dealt with grace, the government has said that it cannot “intervene” in people’s bedrooms. 

“Many a time women make such a complaint to move out of a bad, floundering marriage or abusive marriage. Women make such a complaint when the marriage is over. Therefore, we have to decide at what level should we take it up and what does it entail. This is one of the most complicated and sensitive spaces to intervene because you are interfering into a (person’s) bedroom. How to do it with grace and firmness is something we are working on,” said Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Sanjay Gandhi. She added: “If you don’t complain there is nothing we can do.” 

Taking about marital rape in India, the minister said: “There is already a law in place on marital rape. But the point is that women should start using the law as it has hardly been in India.” 

The recently released Draft National Policy for Women 2016 states: “A comprehensive social protection mechanism will be designed to address the vulnerabilities of single women, including widows, separated, divorced, never-married and deserted women.”

After the construed faux pas in a Parliamentary reply, the Ministry has written to the Rajya Sabha, seeking to withdraw its earlier response on marital rape. 

The amended response from the Ministry states that it is an issue that needs to be deliberated by the Law Commission. The Ministry’s response is based on the fresh response given by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), a view which the former is in agreement with.

In mid-March, there was a furore over Gandhi’s remark that marital rape cannot be criminalised in 

India. In a written reply to a question in the Upper House on March 10, 2016, Gandhi had said: “It is considered that the concept of marital rape, as understood internationally, cannot be suitably applied in the Indian context due to various factors such as level of education/ illiteracy, poverty, myriad social customs and values, religious beliefs, society’s mindset to treat the marriage as a sacrament, etc.”

The Ministry has sent its amended response to the Rajya Sabha, which is similar to the answer given by the MHA on March 15, 2016, in the Lok Sabha. 

Mos for Home Affairs, Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary had in the renewed response stated: “The Law Commission of India, while making its 172nd Report on ‘Review of Rape Laws’ in March 2000 did not recommend criminalisation of marital rape. However, the Justice JS Verma Committee, while giving its Report on ‘Amendments to Criminal Law’ in January 2013 recommended that the law ought to be amended to delete the marital rape exception. The department-related parliamentary standing committee on Home Affairs presented its 167th Report on the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2012 in the Rajya Sabha on 1st March, 2013.”

“....Representations on the matter are received from time to time. Thus the Ministry (MHA) has requested the Law Commission to deliberate upon the matter during the course of its comprehensive review of Criminal Justice System,” added Chaudhary.