Congress leader Shashi Tharoor (ANI photo)

NEW DELHI: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Friday introduced a private member’s bill in the Lok Sabha to criminalise marital rape, calling it an urgent need to uphold women’s rights, emphasising India’s constitutional values.Speaking during the introduction of the bill, the veteran Congress leader told the parliament that the country must move from “No means no” to “Only yes means yes”. In his social media posts later, Tharoor said the marital rape bill seeks to amend the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and remove the current exception that allows non-consensual sex within marriage. “Every woman deserves bodily autonomy and dignity within marriage. Marital rape is about violence, not marriage. The moment for action has arrived,” he said. The bill notes that Section 63 of the law currently excludes marital rape as a punishable offence, leaving married women without legal protection and perpetuating outdated patriarchal notions.“This failure to criminalise marital rape has left married women legally defenceless, distinguishing them from unmarried women and perpetuating the misconception that marriage voids the necessity of consent. This undermines women’s fundamental rights to dignity, safety and bodily autonomy,” the statement of objects and reasons of the bill said.“Allowing a husband to force sex upon his wife disregards her autonomy and perpetuates a culture of control and gender-based violence. Similarly, factors unrelated to a woman’s autonomy, such as her caste, profession, clothing choices, personal beliefs or past sexual conduct, should never be used to presume her consent. Such assumptions not only perpetuate gender-based inequality but also violate her fundamental rights and dignity. They must be unequivocally rejected,” the statement further said.Tharoor also introduced two other private members’ bills — one to amend the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, and another to set up a permanent States and Union Territories Reorganisation Commission to guide future reorganisation of states and Union territories.A private member bills allow MPs from opposition parties to propose laws, though most are withdrawn after government review.