Saniya Dabra

My research project provides a critical socio-legal analysis of the persistent decriminalization of marital rape in India, framing the issue within the nation's historical legislative trajectory. The research traces the enduring colonial legacy of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and its subsequent replacement by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The core methodology involves a systematic, critical case analysis of judicial transcripts spanning both the IPC and BNS eras. This approach identifies continuous and similar judicial patterns and reasonings that sustain the marital rape exception, demonstrating a failure of the BNS to achieve complete decolonization in this critical area. The study also investigates the complex, ongoing role of the age-based exception, alongside the influence of entrenched societal attitudes and political power dynamics. In all, the research illuminates the struggling nature of legal reform in securing bodily autonomy for married women in India.