Arpit Mishra, BA.LL.B, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Delhi NCR
1. ABSTRACT
This paper aims to discuss the “Marry your Rapist” laws which allows a man accused of rape to escape the punishment by just marrying the victim. Rape exposes the inability and failure of the society’s institutions to protect the individuals of the society. As a result of failure of these institutions, the victim is the one who gets punished by marrying their rapist and not the accused. In furtherance of the research paper, many judicial pronouncements have been studied with respect to marry your rapist laws. In a few cases the courts have allegedly asked the accused to either marry the victim or go to jail. India does not have a codified Marry-your- Rapist law. However, Indian judiciary has always tried to highlight the importance of delivering justice to women but still in many cases the justice has remained undelivered due to societal pressure and to save the family’s name.
Various international conventions have been discussed. This paper also points out the mind-set of the society towards the rape survivors and considering marriage as a solution to the lost honour and out-of-court settlements with respect to marry your rapist laws. There are several cases where the rape cases have been settled outside the courts on the condition of accused marrying the victim. The victim takes the complaint back from the court on such condition.
Finally, the paper ends with the suggestions and concluding remark.
2. Keywords: marriage, rape, society, India, Article 21, Court.
