@Aban__Ind A more rational way of reforming/"updating" marriage laws wd hv been the way of strict equality before the law - not gender based discrimination between the partners enshrined by law, or blocking surreptitious use of generic principles like that only one gender shd be "protected"
@Aban__Ind however, I dont think legislators will criminalize "marital rape", as it can only be imposed on "Hindu law" marraiges. There will be adamant opposition from ulema on this, and making the crime "Hindu law" only breaks down the cover of "criminal law" being religion neutral.
@Aban__Ind 2nd reason, is that protection from criminal charges on sex/"rape"(dependent on litigant perspective) for husbands reflects cumulative judicial reduction of marriage to what it is now: where husband has all the economic obligations, wife is only obligated to allow sex.
@Aban__Ind The only right that law effectively allows to the husband is a claim, whittled down by other laws/"precedences" - on the wife for sex. Marriage for all legal purposes, is effectively a total exchange of financial/economic obligations by one partner in return for sex by the other.
@Aban__Ind The legislators and unquestionable "interpreters" are not stupid: they know that without this last remaining incentive, most men wd shy away frm legal bindings imposed by marriage laws, which makes any such commitment a life long financial binding not terminated even on divorce.
@Aban__Ind without that legally imposed binding, the engine of revenue extraction on which politicians buy power, labour and reproduction of future labour, and a substantial part of "economy" of law crashes (no reliable estimate of the transaction beneficiaries from marital disputes).
@Aban__Ind Since men dont vote on "marital law" issues, but on their primary concerns of economy/ideology: they can't prevent interested parties doing the second layer of voting game (laws/steps not put as election agenda). That means any correctional measure has to be through reaction.
@Aban__Ind I know in the medium term, criminalizing "marital rape" seems destructive: but this will force men to reconsider jumping into marriage, often on intense manipulation and pressure from their communities/families who all wash their hands off when the man faces the music.
@Aban__Ind Such a law wd force men to realize that nothing in the law protects them, that they dont hv any rights or claims, and that the legal system will be completely geared to making only them bear all the costs (which makes economic sense as men will be working/earning no matter what).
@Aban__Ind Note that whether be it 498A, or any "marital rape" law, advantage is taken by wives coming from relatively well off status, often educated to high standards, and supposedly with skills to earn a living on their own. For the vast majority of Indian women, its simply not the fact.
@Aban__Ind the current laws are mostly exploited by a small %age of women who dont fit the criteria of "exploitable", and even more so by the legal system and professionals who possibly benefit from their percentages (again perhaps perfectly legal) on the transactions imposed upon the man.
