RAJBIRAJ, March 27: In a rare case, a woman in Saptari has accused her husband of raping her within wedlock and forcing her to engage in unnatural sex. Following the complaint, police on Sunday arrested her husband Bishwa Nath Sah.
The woman, 22, of Deuri VDC-2 of the district has complained that her husband has been forcibly having sexual intercourse with her for a long time and on the basis of the complaint the District Police Office (DPO), Saptrai arrested Sah, said SP Sanjay Singh Basnet, the DPO chief. [break]Basnet also said Sah has been remanded to seven days of police custody for investigation.
The woman has also mentioned in her complaint that she has been undergoing mental and physical torture due to the non-consensual sex . She has demanded strong action against her husband.
She has also stated that her husband had last time forced her to have unnatural sex on March 22.
Prior to the complaint at DPO, Aasha had registered the case at Women´s Cell of the DPO but the police didn´t arrest him then stating that they had yet to investigate the case.
Likewise, a 40-year-old woman in Dhading district had also filled a similar complaint of marital rape against her husband at the District Police Office on February 9.
She had stated that she had suffered sexual violence for the past 15 years of her 25 years of married life.
According to the existing law, anyone convicted of marital rape can be sentenced to 3-6 months in jail.
The Supreme Court in 2006 has declared that sex without the wife´s consent is rape and punishable by law. The government had amended the law on rape following a petition filed in July 2001 by the Forum for Women, Law and Development (FWLD), a women´s rights organization.
Even though many women are suffering sexual violence at the hands of their husbands, only a few women have dared to seek legal remedy because it is still a taboo to talk about sex in our society, say experts.
They also say many people are still unaware of the legal provision. Nepal is one of the few countries that have identifed marital rape as a crime.
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