On International Women’s Day today, March 8, many will wonder whether gender justice can be secured in India, where its Chief Justice recently asked an accused in a rape case: “Will you marry her [the survivor]? If you want to marry [her] we can help you.” Chief Justice SA Bobde offered to play the match-maker even though India, unlike several countries – Bahrain, Iraq, the Philippines, for instance – does not have a law absolving the rapist if he marries the survivor. In fact, the worldwide trend is to repeal what is contemptuously described as “marry-your-rapist” laws.

The only country to have gone in the opposite direction is Turkey, which had abolished its “marry-your-rapist” law in 2005. However, in 2016, the ruling Justice and Development Party, which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had established, brought in a bill granting amnesty to those convicted of sexually assaulting minors without using force or threat, and were now willing to marry them. The plan was abandoned because of the fury it provoked in Turkey. In January 2020, Erdogan again tried to revive that law, only to retreat yet again.