CRIMINAL LAW AMENDMENTS

TOPIC: Indian Polity

Context- The government has started the process of comprehensive amendments to criminal laws in response to a question on marital rape.

Concept-

Various petitions have sought striking down of the exception to Section 375 of the IPC, which says forcible sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being 18 years, is not rape.
Section 3 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 provides a deﬁnition for domestic violence, which includes physical, sexual, verbal and emotional abuse.
The National Family Health Survey-4 (2015-16) shows that 7% of ever-married women experienced spousal sexual violence.
- Among ever-married women aged 15-49 who have ever experienced sexual violence, 83% report their current husband and 9% report a former husband as perpetrators.
However it is diﬃcult to prove when a woman had consented to sexual intercourse and when she had withdrawn her consent.