What a law does not say is as important as what it does. The draft bill on rape is promising changes needed for a long time. These are strides in the right direction. But it seems that the bill is still arch about marital rape: it may be included in domestic violence, it apparently does not figure under types of rape. The assumption that the wife is the property of the husband, to do with as he wills within the ?sanctified? sphere of marriage has not completely disappeared. The point is important: without clarity about a violent crime, which is usually glossed over and explained away by interests that benefit the powerful and punish the victim, no adequate law can evolve. This is not to diminish the significance of what seems about to be achieved. The definition of rape is being reviewed, and sexual violation would include any kind of coercive physical contact. It is necessary, though, to tread carefully here as well. Lumping types of violence together is as confusing, and ultimately beneficial to the criminal, as ignoring the question of consent, even though that too is difficult to determine at times. There are still many questions about the wisdom of considering deception in the case of premarital sex as rape.

It is reassuring that penile penetration alone will no longer constitute rape; forced penetration with any part of the body or other object too will be equally culpable. With these changes have come expansion and clarification of penalties. Seven to ten years of imprisonment, which could be extended to life depending on the gravity of the crime, together with fines, have been proposed. A position of power or responsibility will damn the rapist most, and violence towards a minor, a challenged person or a pregnant woman will attract ten years or more. So would gangrape. A recent sentence by the Rajasthan high court suggests that attitudes are indeed changing. In response to a petition from two convicted rapists it has ruled that power and family status of the violator will not be considered in deciding the severity of the sentence, only the seriousness of the crime, and the age and condition of the victim. But there is still some way to go. Even now, very few rapists are finally convicted. It is to be hoped that the issue of evidence too will be reconsidered. That is perhaps the most difficult of all, because it is the best indicator of how far attitudes have changed.