Several thinkers lodged a protest against noted Kannada litterateur SL Bhyrappa for his remarks against criminalisation of marital rape. While some protest, many are divided on the issue. Some say it is needed, while others say the sacrosanctity of marriage will be the biggest casualty
Bengaluru: Noted Kannada novelist SL Bhyrappa, who doesn’t shy away from airing his views on controversial subjects, is again in the eye of a storm, courtesy his views on marital rape being outlawed.
On Wednesday (May 1) Bhyrappa expressed his apprehensions and scepticism on the prospects of marital rape being proscribed, saying such a move would deliver a deathly blow to the very roots of the concept of family system as per Hinduism.
Also the litterateur appears not be inclined towards the prospects of a husband taking a written consent from his wife in order to get intimate or cosy. However, such a thought has certainly not gone down well with many thinkers.
A number of writers held a protest in Mysuru, condemning the writer’s way of thinking.
Presently, the concept of marital rape is non-existent in the Indian legal parlance. It is assumed that consent to marriage is an implicit concern to get intimate.
However, many legal experts themselves are split on the issue.
Pramila Nesargi, a women’s right activist feels it has to be criminalised.
“None can have sex against the consent of the partner. Marriage alone cannot be a licence for intimacy all the time. Forceful coitus or sexual intercourse is not right. It must be made an offence,” she said.
Another advocate Manjunath adds fillip to her argument.
“A law should be brought in to punish offending husbands. It should not be assumed that a wife must answer her husband in the affirmative all the time. The wrong has to be righted. Therefore, a law in this regard would go a long way,” he said.
But on the other side of the continuum, other lawyers have their own reasons not to think the way their counterparts think.
A lawyer who did not wish to be named, said, “It will give the wives an undue advantage. Fake cases will be foisted against husbands. It will be used to browbeat men into submission. We have many cases of section 498A (domestic violence) being misused. Keeping this in mind, the Supreme Court halted the arrest of accused husbands. Now if marital rape is criminalised, it is the concept of family that will be compromised.”
MyNation tried to speak to Bhyrappa but he was not available.
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