An Indian woman sued her husband for what he forced her to do in the bedroom. But a judge told him that anything is allowed in marriage

A judge in India has dismissed the complaint of a woman who said her husband forced her to have “unnatural” intimate relations, as under Indian law it is not illegal for a husband to force his wife to have sex.

The ruling, handed down by the Madhya Pradesh High Court last week, highlights a loophole in India’s laws that do not criminalize marital rape by a husband against his wife if she is over 18, CNN reports.

Activists have been trying to change the law for years, but say they face strong opposition from conservatives who say state interference could destroy India’s tradition of marriage.

According to the Madhya Pradesh High Court ruling, the woman complained to the police that her husband had come home in 2019, soon after they got married, and committed “unnatural sex” under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. India.

The offense refers to “sexual intercourse against nature with any man, woman or animal” and was used in the past to prosecute same-sex couples who engaged in consensual sex before the decriminalization of homosexuality in 2018.

According to court documents, the woman claimed the act happened “on several occasions” and that her husband threatened to divorce her if she told anyone about it. She eventually appeared in court after telling her mother what had happened, and she encouraged her to press charges in 2022.

The husband contested his wife’s complaint in court, with his lawyer arguing that any “unnatural sexual act” between the couple is not a crime, precisely because the two are married.

Justice Gurpal Singh Ahluwalia pointed out that marital rape was not criminalized in India if the wife is over 18, regardless of the nature of the sexual act, so he dismissed the complaint.

The woman has also accused her in-laws of mental and physical harassment “due to non-fulfilment of dowry demand”, and a trial in this case is about to begin.

Ahluwalia’s decision has once again raised questions about the treatment of women in India, who continue to face violence and discrimination in the deeply patriarchal society.

The world’s largest democracy of 1.4 billion people has made significant progress in passing laws to better protect women, but people say the reluctance to criminalize marital rape leaves women without adequate protection.

According to a 2019-2021 survey by the Government of India, 17.6% of the more than 100,000 women aged 15 to 49 who were surveyed said they could not say no to their husband if they did not want to to have sex, while 11% believe that husbands are justified in beating their wives if they refuse to have sex.

Women who are raped have a legal recourse against their husbands: they can seek a restraining order for acts of domestic violence that can include sexual assault.

But many married women are ignored when they try to file a police complaint, a 2022 study found.

Publisher: DC

Download the Digi24 app and find out the most important news of the day