A 19-year-old new bride, Shanti, died at the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Trauma Centre, Karachi, after remaining in a coma for over two weeks due to torture and brutal sexual violence by her husband.
Shanti got married on 15 June, and two days later, her husband brutally raped and tortured her. She was brought to a private hospital by her in-laws, where the doctor mishandled the case. Her condition further deteriorated.
Later, she was admitted to the intensive care unit at the trauma centre, where she fell into a coma. She passed away two weeks later, succumbing to her fatal injuries. Her husband was arrested, and a case was registered at the Baghdadi police station when she went into a coma. An FIR under Sections 376-B (punishment for rape) and 324 (attempted murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code was registered.
Shanti and her husband both belonged to poor families, living in a congested low-income locality. When she was subjected to brutal sexual violence, neighbours heard her screams. Later, when neighbours enquired about the new bride’s screams, the in-laws replied that the groom was “possessed”.
The young bride may have survived if her in-laws had intervened when she was undergoing sexual violence, and also if she had been given immediate and proper medical aid.
Clearly, the main culprit was Shanti’s husband, Ashok Kumar. However, her in-laws were equally complicit in this heinous crime by covering up the sexual violence through fabricated stories and excuses.
The doctor of the private hospital who first examined Shanti was also culpable. The doctor was not only negligent in treating the victim with much-needed sensitive medical care, but this “professional” also failed to report to any law enforcement agency that the victim had suffered acute domestic sexual violence.
Shanti’s case made headlines in the media due to the excessive brutality of her marital rape. This horrific incident exposes the stark everyday reality of women who are unwillingly forced into sexual acts by husbands. Their silent suffering has severe emotional, mental, and physical health risks. The issue of marital rape is still a taboo subject in our society. It is “normalised” as part of marital life by giving it the cover of religious, cultural, societal, and family norms. Due to the lack of family support, women are terrified, ashamed, and lack the courage to speak about their ordeal, lest they lose the support of both their own families and their in-laws.
Both reporting rates and conviction rates are extremely low — less than 0.3% in one year of data collection. Marital rape cases mostly go unreported, so data on this criminal activity is nonexistent. A major hurdle discouraging women from reporting their rape case is the typical mindset of the police in registering the case and the general victim-blaming that is assumed in a patriarchal society.
Since families and parents do not discuss these issues with young people, they tend to get the information out of curiosity through wrong or inappropriate sources
Social, family, and structural barriers are so deeply entrenched that forcible sexual acts and sexual assault on a wife are not considered marital rape in this deeply patriarchal society. This behaviour is bound to be accepted as normal, where even a woman’s consent to a marital relationship is often considered unnecessary. Since a husband is ‘entitled’ to all rights, unilateral power, and access to a woman’s body, treating it as his personal property and an object rather than an equal partner in this social contract is considered entirely acceptable. Even though marital rape or forced sexual activity is an extreme and humiliating form of domestic violence, it is generally not taken seriously by families or society at large.
Section 375 and Section 377 of the Pakistan Penal Code define rape, non-consensual sex, and sodomy. However, the PPC does not explicitly address marital rape.
The Criminal Law Amendment 2021 included reforms for the protection of women’s rights and criminalising non-consensual sexual acts. Due to loopholes in the existing law, there is an imperative need for a specific or separate law on marital rape.
There is precedent where a sessions court in Karachi in 2024 sentenced a man to three years in prison for non-consensual acts against his wife (charged under Section 377 for "unnatural offences"). This was the first time there was a sentencing in a marital rape case, but only because of what is euphemistically known as an “unnatural act” (anal penetration).
Along with strict laws on marital rape, there is an imperative need to work on the social and educational aspects as well, to change the mindset, behaviours, and attitudes of men towards women.
In 1994, the International Conference on Population and Development called for the education and promotion of adolescent sexual and reproductive health, addressing misconceptions, strategies for community resistance regarding sexuality education, and implementation barriers.
It is time to break the culture of silence, shatter the taboos on marital rape, and remove the misconceptions on sexuality, puberty, and reproductive health. It is time to focus on what is meant by physical and mental health, mutual consent, and the physical autonomy of women.
We need to teach and educate our young adults, specifically young men, on these basic concepts. Since families and parents do not discuss these issues with young people, they tend to get the information out of curiosity through wrong or inappropriate sources.
There is always a fear of backlash and resistance from society and parents to educating children on sexual education and marital relationships. Therefore, such crucially important, albeit sensitive issues are pushed under the carpet, especially by the elders in families.
There is a need to introduce formal or informal school-based sexuality education and information on a human and women’s rights-based approach to sexuality, mutual consent, gender sensitisation, reproductive rights, family planning, and personal safety. The Pakistan People’s Party has done more pro-women and women’s rights protection legislation in Sindh than in the other three provinces. The Sindh Assembly should take the lead in legislating on marital rape, so the others may follow suit.
These guidelines should be developed and incorporated into the curricula of pedagogical material, keeping in view religious and cultural sensitivities. Parents should initiate conversations with adolescents and young adults on sexual behaviour, sexual and reproductive rights, so they can make informed choices. Mera jism meri marzi must not remain merely a slogan on placards, displayed once a year by brave young women hoping against hope for change in a society that does not regard them as equal human beings.