Overview
- Introducing a private member’s bill in the Lok Sabha on December 5, the Congress MP sought to make non-consensual sex within marriage a criminal offence.
- The draft amendment focuses on Section 63 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, which currently excludes husbands from rape prosecution when the wife is over 18.
- Tharoor argued that marriage cannot negate a woman’s right to consent and urged a shift from “No means no” to “Only yes means yes.”
- The bill’s rationale cites the Justice Verma Committee, NFHS‑5 findings that 83% of women reporting sexual violence named their current husband, and India’s CEDAW commitments.
- As a private member’s measure with uncertain prospects, the initiative also came alongside two Tharoor bills on limiting working hours and creating a States and Union Territories Reorganisation Commission.