In India, marital rape is not a crime. Some men want to keep it that way
MUMBAI – Over the decades, Chitra Awasthi has counseled thousands of Indian women. Many of them are rape victims. But there's one woman whose story has stuck with her, all these years.
It was about ten years ago, says Awasthi, whose RIT Foundation works to promote social and gender equality in India.
The woman was a domestic worker. Her husband was an alcoholic.
"Her husband was not working. First, he would ask her for money for liquor," Awasthi recalls. "Then, if she couldn't provide it, he would rape her. That was the sequence, every day."
For years, the woman never told anyone.
"It was not just the stigma and social pressure. She actually didn't know that it is her right to say no – that she has rights over her own body," laments Awasthi.
Despite her advanced degrees in social work and decades of advocacy and counseling experience, Awasthi says she felt frustrated. She could help
