New Delhi: The 'office of profit' controversy may have been a wake-up call for the political class, but our system has archaic laws that range from, if I may say so, stupid to outright unjust. CNN-IBN takes a look at some relics of the past that just doesn't go with the modern India.
As far as sexuality is concerned, India's laws are notoriously out of date for example marital rape. Section 375 of the IPC states: "sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under 15 years of age, is not rape".
Even sexual violation of any kind on women that is not rape is loosely talked about is Sections 354 and 509 of the IPC where even though the law talks about protecting the modesty of a woman it doesn’t say what modesty means leaving several loopholes in the interpretation of the term.
Thus a woman who is regularly harassed or even eve teased has no legal recourse if she does not show medical proof of forcible intercourse.
This is just one example of how in a 21st century morality; our laws remain in the 19th century.
A man can have several spouses, women cant. Complete inequality when it comes to laws for men and women.
Adultery for example, a husband can prosecute a man for being involved with his wife but the wife does not have the same privileges. She cannot prosecute the woman with whom her husband has had an adulterous relationship.
What complicates matters even more is that there are different laws for different religions in India.
While the Hindu Marriage Act for example has been modified to give women more rights, it isn’t the same for other religions.
The Christian Marriage Act for instance dates back to 1872 and the debate over the triple talaaq still continues.
While the issue of uniform civil code is controversial, it’s all about finding the same code to govern the country.
There are approximately 3000 central statutes and India's legislative system is cluttered with dysfunctional laws in almost every area from criminal law to laws governing the Indian media.
In criminal justice, the law is tilted in favour of the accused, on rape and inheritance, heavily biased against men and in urban governance, totally biased against the poor.
The Supreme Court has now recognised that non-consummation is a grounds for divorce, but women continue to bear the brunt of India's bad old laws.
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