As Women Suffer, the State's Discounting of Rape is Kaafi Real

As gross injustice is meted out to women in cases of sexual violence, male perpetrators shelter in their privilege.

In this week's news: The Gauhati High Court granted bail to an IIT student accused of rape. A 24-year-old woman, who had suffered sexual assault at the hands of a BSP MP, set herself on fire in front of the Supreme Court to the protest injustice. The Chhattisgarh High Court pronounced that any sexual act by husband with his own wife, even if by force, is not rape.

In a regime where the patriarchal State remains the arbiter over their bodies, women come only second to men who are 'future assets', politicians, or husbands.