A case just decided in the Indian court system has once again highlighted the grave and challenging problem of marital rape in the country. On Tuesday, a Delhi judge ruled that rape laws do not apply to married couples; once a man and woman are legally wed, forced sex is no longer a crime.
The details of the case are these: Last year, a 21-year-old woman who lived near New Delhi accused a man of drugging her, getting her to sign marriage documents and then having sex with her while she was intoxicated. Though this case has been challenged because of alleged inconsistencies in the woman's account, as well as a lack of evidence, the ruling makes India's official line on marital rape very clear:
The prosecutrix (the wife) and the accused being legally wedded husband and wife, and the prosecutrix being major, the sexual intercourse between the two, even if forcible, is not rape and no culpability can be fastened upon the accused
