Standard of Consent in Rape Law in India : Towards an Affirmative Standard

This article advocates for reformation of the standard of consent in the rape laws in the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The author provides an overview of the evolution of the standard of consent in the IPC rape laws before contextualizing the current laws within Indian culture and society. The proposed reform is to adopt an affirmative standard of consent, which the author argues will lead to the acknowledgement of specific rather than just generalized consent, which will stop the substitution of an objective standard of overt behaviour for a victim’s subjective experience of violation. It will also mitigate many of the negative stereotypes surrounding rape victims that are currently rampant in Indian culture and society. The article concludes with a critique of the myth of false allegations, which is a prominent argument against adopting an affirmative standard of consent.