Myth: "India's New Criminal Code Finally Made Marital Rape a Crime"

The claim

Around the 2024 rollout of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, versions of this claim spread: “India’s new penal code finally criminalises marital rape.” Some framed it as a quiet reform; others as a reason to celebrate a long-demanded change.

What actually changed

The BNS recodified the rape provisions that used to sit in IPC Section 375. In doing so, it carried forward the marital exception largely unchanged: sexual acts by a man with his wife are excluded from the statutory definition of rape, provided the wife is not under eighteen. The recodification renumbered and reorganised the offence. It did not remove the exception.

Where the confusion comes from

Some of the confusion traces to genuine, ongoing litigation: constitutional challenges to the marital exception have been working through the High Courts and Supreme Court for several years, and at various points courts have issued observations, split verdicts, or referred questions to larger benches. A court discussing whether the exception should be struck down is not the same as it having been struck down, and neither is the same as Parliament having removed it in the recodified statute.

The verdict, precisely

False, as written. The BNS did not criminalise marital rape. The exception the old IPC contained is present in the current statutory text in substantially the same form.

What this does not mean

It does not mean the debate is settled or closed — constitutional challenges to the exception remain live, and a future court ruling or legislative amendment could change this. It also does not mean no criminal law applies to non-consensual conduct within a marriage in every circumstance; other provisions may be relevant depending on the specific facts. What the claim gets wrong is describing a change that has not, as of this entry’s checked date, actually happened in the statute.