India abolishes husbands' 'right' to rape wife

[zengrifter]

India abolishes husbands' 'right' to rape wife

By Justin Huggler
Belfast Telegraph | 27 October 2006

For the first time, women in India have legal protection against abuse in their own homes under a law which came into force yesterday. It is the first time Indian law has recognised marital rape, sexual, emotional or verbal abuse of a woman by her husband as crimes. India is a country where the streets are safe - but a woman is not safe inside her own home.

There is a remarkably low rate of violent crime against strangers in most of the big cities, and it is safe to walk the streets of Mumbai or Bangalore late at night. But every six hours, a young married woman is burnt to death, beaten to death, or driven to suicide by emotional abuse from her husband, figures show.

...more - http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/ne...p?story=711721