"No Means No": Tharoor Bill to Criminalize Marital Rape

• Shashi Tharoor introduced a Private Member’s Bill in Lok Sabha to criminalize marital rape.
• The bill seeks to remove the marital rape exception from the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
• Tharoor argues this change is crucial for women's bodily autonomy and dignity, ensuring married women receive the same legal protection as unmarried women.
• He stated that marriage cannot negate a woman's right to consent and that the issue is about violence, not marriage.
• The proposal aims to end outdated patriarchal ideas and uphold constitutional values by recognizing sexual violence within marriage as a punishable crime.

Why It Matters: It seeks to end marital rape exception, ensuring women's bodily autonomy.