KOLKATA: Diplomat-turned-senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday said he was shocked that India remains one of the few democracies where marital rape is not viewed with the seriousness it deserves, despite having stringent anti-rape laws.

Speaking at a programme organised by the Prabha Khaitan Foundation in association with the FICCI Ladies Organisation, Tharoor said, "I am shocked to find that India is one of the few democracies in the world where the case of a husband raping his wife without her consent is not treated with the seriousness as it should have been."

He pointed out that while India has strong anti-rape law, there are exceptions for husbands which is nothing but marital rape violating a woman without her consent.

"Why should they (husbands) be exempted?" he said

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