Mahek Bhatia

Thesis Title: Evaluating the operation of civil remedies in response to marital sexual violence in India

Marital rape, and other acts of sexual violence, are not criminalised in India. Section 63 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 exempts husbands from criminal charges if they rape their wives (aged 18 or older). Survivors can alternatively claim civil remedies for domestic violence under the Protection of Women Against Domestic Violence Act 2005 (DV Act), which provides residence rights, protection orders, monetary relief and child custody. However, socio-legal research on the operation of these civil remedies within the context of marital sexual violence is limited.

This study addresses this gap by examining survivors’ predominant experiences in seeking civil remedies and assessing the impact of these remedies when granted. It combines doctrinal and socio-legal approaches, including analysis of statistical data and case law from Delhi High and District Courts, semi-structured interviews with survivor support services, lawyers, and survivors, and four months of court observation.

Findings will expand the feminist discourse on the marital rape exemption and theoretical debates on punitivism and sexual violence by assessing present non-carceral alternatives. Using an anti-carceral and postcolonial feminist framework, this project interrogates whether civil remedies can truly function as emancipatory alternatives to punitive responses, or whether they remain entangled with criminal justice institutions, and examines the implications of such entanglement. In the absence of legislative or judicial will to repeal the marital rape exemption, the project also attempts to influence policy by proposing ways to improve the legal process for survivors of marital rape and sexual violence to attain such civil remedies.

Biography:

Mahek Bhatia is an ESRC-funded doctoral scholar conducting socio-legal research on marital sexual violence in India. Previously, she read for the MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Oxford as the Cornelia Sorabji Scholar, where her dissertation on marital rape adjudication won a prize for the best dissertation. She also holds a Bachelor in Laws (with honours) from the University of Warwick. She has assisted research across criminology, human rights, and feminist legal theory, including work with Oxford Pro Bono Publico and in domestic abuse consultancy.

School of Law

University of Warwick

2025 Cohort

Email:

X: @mahekkbhatiaa

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Supervisory Team:

Prof Ann Stewart

Dr Laura Lammasniemi