I read Aires Rodrigues' posts with interest as he exposes the wrongdoings of politicians, legal luminaries, clergy and indeed all and sundry.
However his latest Goanet post about a Goan male model being charged for "forcibly having sexual intercourse with a woman on pretext of marriage" has me thinking the following thoughts: Aires is repeating the facts about the legal process being taken against Siddesh Juvecar. He is neither criticizing the procedure nor bringing new facts to light. Where is the activism here. How different is this from what a reporter produces. The second is: how does what looks to me like consensual sex become "forcible". Didn't he promise marriage in order to make it consensual. If it was forcible, he didn't have to promise anything. Next is: why does Indian law allow for prosecution of a man who has sexual inter course by promising marriage to a woman. Isn't it for the woman to discern what is promised to her and pay the consequences for a wrong decision. I can understand the charge of cheating, but rape for promising and not marrying seems a far stretch. Should you charge a woman with rape if she seduces you, promising to marry and then gives you the raspberry. Wouldn't you laugh instead of taking the matter to court. And lastly: some Indian courts have dropped rape charges if the man marries the person who is supposed to have raped her. Are our Indian women so lacking in confidence that they will force a man to marry her only under threat of a felony crime. Shotguns still in vogue I suppose. It's time this particular Indian law grew up a little. Roland Francis Toronto
