A Parliamentary panel todaysupported government's decision not to accept marital rape asa criminal offence, saying it could lead to "practicaldifficulties".
The Justice J S Verma Committee set up in the aftermathof the Delhi gangrape incident to suggest changes in thecriminal law had recommended that the exception for maritalrape be removed from the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
"The fact that the accused and victim are married or inanother intimate relationship may not be regarded as amitigating factor justifying lower sentences for rape," theVerma Committee had said.
However, the government did not accept the recommendationin the ordinance promulgated last month. But, it enhancedpunishment for sex by husband with his wife during separationwithout consent from two to seven years.
The Standing Committee on Home in its report on theCriminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2012 agreed with the view ofthe Home Ministry that criminalising marital rape would weakentraditional family values in India, and that marriage presumesconsent.
"... it has practical difficulties. If litigations areallowed, then the family system will be disturbed," CommitteeChairman M Venkaiah Naidu of BJP said in response toquestions.
The IPC differentiates between rape within marriage andoutside marriage. Under the IPC sexual intercourse withoutconsent is prohibited.
However, an exception to the offence of rape exists inrelation to un-consented sexual intercourse by a husband upona wife. The Verma Committee recommended that marriage shouldnot be considered as an irrevocable consent to sexual acts.
The decision to exempt marital rape was fiercely opposedby women's groups.
Committee members D Raja (CPI) and Prasanta Chatterjee(CPM) gave a dissent note for excluding marital rape from theambit of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill saying it wascontrary to the provisions of the Constitution which considersall women as equal human beings.