criminal-law india indian-penal-code rape
how is familial rape treated in Indian law?
<p><a href="https://devgan.in/ipc/section/376/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Section 376</a>, Indian Penal Code (IPC) states the punishment for rape commited by a..</p>
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<p>...relative, guardian or a person in position of trust and authority</p>
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<p>shall be rigiourous imprisonmment for minimum 10 years or life imprisonment for the remainder of one's natural life.</p>
<p>But there doesn't seem to be any case law on the incestous rape by an (adult) child on their mother or elder sisters. This is certainly a prevalent issue in various rural and the urban areas from victim testimonies and surveys I've read</p>
<p>Is this underprosecuted and would such cases come under the scope of IPC <a href="https://www.indiacode.nic.in/show-data?actid=AC_CEN_5_23_00037_186045_1523266765688&amp;orderno=424" rel="nofollow noreferrer">section 375</a> or 376?  For example most case law is regarding fathers and father-in-laws committing rape but there aren't any Supreme Court level cases on this, questioning the interpretation of the law to include the afformentioned cases.</p>

<p><strong>Would such cases come under the scope of IPC section 375 or 376?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Yes</strong></p>
<p>Notwithstanding it's difficult to prove a negative, there is nothing in the IPC (nor any other Indian legislation that I can find) that says otherwise.</p>
<p>i.e. rape is rape if the elements of <a href="https://www.indiacode.nic.in/show-data?actid=AC_CEN_5_23_00037_186045_1523266765688&amp;orderno=424" rel="nofollow noreferrer">section 375</a> are proven, and the punishment would be according to <a href="https://www.indiacode.nic.in/show-data?actid=AC_CEN_5_23_00037_186045_1523266765688&amp;orderno=425" rel="nofollow noreferrer">section 376</a> IPC.</p>
<p>(Whether these offences are under prosecuted, or merely under reported, is probably impossible to answer without carrying out a nationwide survey to collect the data.)</p>
