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Should India criminalise marital rape?

There is a growing clamour for criminalising forced sex in a marriage.

There is a growing clamour for criminalising forced sex in a marriage. Campaigners have demanded this for a long time, but there are many in India’s strongly patriarchal society who are outraged. They believe the law will be misused and lead to false cases against men.

But is that a good enough reason not to make forced sex illegal when women outside of marriage have strong legal protection? And how can India provide justice to victims fighting a lonely battle in a society that, more often than not, blames them for maligning the institution of marriage?

In this edition of WorklifeIndia, we discuss whether it is time for India to criminalise marital rape.

Presenter: Devina Gupta
Contributors: Colin Gonsalves, senior advocate, Supreme Court of India; Tara Krishnaswamy, co-founder, Political Shakti; Wasif Ali, co-founder, Men Welfare Trust

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26 minutes

Podcast