Legal Backfire - By Riddhima Sen

 

Marital rape is still a prevalent crime in India. Rape, when it happens post marriage, is generally considered to be normal. On the logistical background that no body has the right to invade the privacy of a couple, such a heinous crime is given shelter from the Damocles’ sword of law. Numerous lawyers have sided with the perpetrators, quite surprisingly. The sweet surprise here is bittersweet, as in the fact that the one who is supposed to shield doesn’t shield victims when necessary. On the contrary, in other nations marital rape is treated as a serious and punishable offence. 

Recently, the decision taken in the High Court stunned public. In case of a minor being raped by an older person, the Court ruled that the victim was to marry the perpetrator. A similar case has been recorded in the history of legal proceedings, nevertheless. The victim, who was a minor, was “instructed “to marry the perpetrator, who was a government official by the way. Despite the massive outrage during particular cases recently and a few decades back, laws are just not getting stricter, nor is the mindset of the majority of the people changing.