"Will you marry her?": A justifiable excuse to rape
India reckons with culture of rape
Source: Wikimedia Commons
“Will you marry her?”. These were the words uttered by the Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde when faced with the choice of whether or not to provide anticipatory bail to a man facing rape charges.
The allegations arose in 2014 when an employee of the Indian government, Mohit Subhash Chavan, was accused of raping a 14-year-old girl repeatedly. Around 10 to 12 times, to be precise. The girl was a distant relative of the accused and the incidents of sexual abuse began when the girl was in year 9. The accused rapist silenced the girl by threatening to throw acid on her and to kill her brother, which forced the victim to keep her mouth shut. This continued regularly, until the girl was pushed over the brink in 2018, when she attempted to commit suicide. Her mother then found out about the assault and rushed to the police station to file a complaint. Whilst the girl was still a victim, the accused rapist’s parents made the victim’s illiterate mother sign a contract, agreeing that her daughter would withdraw the complaint if the accused accepted to marry her once she turned 18 – the age of maturity in India.
The girl turned 18 in late 2019, however when the accused was approached with regards to the previously agreed marriage agreement, the accused rapist refused to marry her, as he was already married to someone else, and still is. Thus, the girl filed a complaint against Chavan on December 17, 2019. Five days later, Chavan applied for anticipatory bail and was granted it on January 6. A month later the girl challenged this decision at the Bombay High Court and on February 5, the anticipatory bail that was initially granted to Chavan was cancelled. This led Chavan to challenge this decision at the highest level – the Supreme Court.
At the Supreme Court, the accused is facing charges under Section 376, 417 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code. Each of these laws charge the accused with punishment for sexual assault, punishment for cheating and punishment for criminal intimidation. On March 1 of this year, the Supreme Court had a hearing regarding this situation, and rather than focusing on the atrocities and years of torture, pain and misery that the victim was put through, the court shockingly provided Chavan with options. The chief justice went on to say "If you want to marry [her] we can help you. If not, you lose your job and go to jail.”
Let us put this in context - a man, who also happens to be a government employee, was given the options to marry the girl he continuously raped and violated whilst keeping his job and not spending another day in jail or, to lose his job and undergo jail time. Must be a tough choice, right? The mere fact that Indian courts are creating a means of justifiable rape and handing, on a silver platter, a way out of doing jail time creates an absolute mockery of the Indian justice system.
India’s justice system seems to be creating a pathway for justifiable rape; by accepting that an accused rapist does not have to do jail time simply by marrying the victim, without even consulting the victim on whether she would want to marry an individual who has robbed her of her childhood. As noted by Albertina Almeida:
“Marrying the survivor is a time tested ploy by rapists to escape conviction or the prolonged sentence. This tactic takes advantage of cultural issues around rape, where raped women are, to this day, looked upon as jinda lash – living dead.”
This is not the first time the Indian courts have allowed an accused rapist to walk free, insofar as he married his victim. In another situation, the Indian courts allowed a rapist to leave court punishment free, as long as the rapist allowed the girl to tie him rakhi [a festival that celebrates brotherhood and love] in order to protect the “dignity” of the woman.
The Supreme Court decided to delay Chavan’s arrest by four weeks, giving him ample time to apply for regular bail. This also allows Chavan and his family to negotiate a deal outside of court with the girl’s family, which I anticipate would be along the lines of the previously signed contract whereby the girl would withdraw her complaint as long as Chavan agrees to marry her.
To many, this might come across as absurd and a hard concept to grasp. But for the average Indian, marrying their rapist means protecting themselves from victim shaming and the societal stigma associated with victims of rape. Many families worry that once an individual is raped, they are no longer “marriage worthy” and thus would rather have the girl marry their rapist than not get married at all, as the sole purpose for many women in India is to marry and be a baby-producing machine.
On the one hand, India has had women holding some of the highest positions in office, including a female prime minister, a feat many Western democracies have yet to achieve. But on the other, India records one rape every 15 minutes. The future for Indian women, in a country where they can’t even rely on their justice system and have no assurance that their perpetrators will be brought to justice, remains uncertain.
What’s even more alarming is that there are no checks and balances in place to recognise injustices committed by India’s very own chief justice. When Indian government employees are raping minor-age girls, and the justice system is providing such perpetrators with an easy way out, India’s pillars of democracy are truly being shaken. Solutions, such as having more female Supreme Court judges, gender sensitisation and greater investment in female education will be vital in shaping the future of women India, and the broader Indian democracy (or at least what’s left of it).
The detailed Supreme Court proceedings can be found at: IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
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