The Indian rape rule states that rape includes marital rape and extends abortion rights to 24 weeks

CNN
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Marital rape was defined as rape in a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of India on Thursday.

The Press Trust of India news agency reported that the country’s Supreme Court also stated that all women, regardless of their marital status, have the right to an abortion up to 24 weeks.

The statements were made as part of an interpretation of the 1971 Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, which originally applied only to women who are married or in cases of rape or threat to the life of the mother up to 20 weeks.

On Thursday, it stopped short of criminalizing coerced sex by a husband, but said abortion was permitted, because such cases would be considered sexual assault.

“Only through legal imagination… removes marital rape from the scope of rape,” the order said.

“We would be remiss in not acknowledging that intimate partner violence is a reality and can take the form of rape. The misconception that strangers are exclusively or almost exclusively responsible for sexual and gender-based violence is a deeply unfortunate concept. The order added that sexual and gender-based violence (with all its forms) in the context of the family has long formed part of the lived experiences of dozens of women.

In 2021, amendments were made to the Medical Termination and Pregnancy Act to remove the distinction between married and unmarried people and increase the time limit to 24 weeks in some circumstances. In doing so, the revised law allowed for a larger interpretation of the law to be applied.

Expanding the law on access to safe and legal abortion for “all women” to 24 weeks on Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that the distinction between married and unmarried people is not “constitutionally sustainable.”

The court added that discrimination “would perpetuate the stereotype that only married women indulge in sexual activities.”

This historic decision follows popular protests against the high rate of sexual assault, usually against women and girls, across India in recent years.

In 2012, the rape and murder of medical student Nirbhaya – a nickname given to the victim, meaning “not afraid” – in Delhi prompted millions of women to demand tougher penalties for perpetrators.

The outrage led to the introduction of stronger rape laws, including fast-tracking rape cases through the justice system and amending the definition of rape to include oral and anal penetration.

However, activists said such laws have had little effect in slowing the tide of sexual violence in India, ranked as the world’s most dangerous country for women in a 2018 Thomson Reuters poll.

More than 28,000 cases of alleged rape against women were reported in 2020 – one approximately every 18 minutes – according to India’s National Crime Records Bureau. With many cases of rape out of fear going unreported, experts believe the true number may be much higher.

Earlier in September, a 12-year-old boy was left in a “critical condition” after he was gang-raped and beaten by three men – all minors known to the victim – in New Delhi.

In April, a police officer raped a 13-year-old girl who had approached him to report an alleged gang rape by four men.

from San Jose News Bulletin https://sjnewsbulletin.com/the-indian-rape-rule-states-that-rape-includes-marital-rape-and-extends-abortion-rights-to-24-weeks/