https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Phulmoni_Dasi_rape_casePhulmoni Dasi rape case - Revision history2026-09-06T22:35:59ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Phulmoni_Dasi_rape_case&diff=154275&oldid=previmported>Mr. Guye at 23:32, 14 July 20212021-07-14T23:32:34Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Phulmoni Dasi Rape Case in 1889}}The '''Phulmoni Dasi rape case''' was a case of [[child marriage]] and subsequent [[marital rape]] in India in 1889, which resulted in the death of the 10-year-old girl, Phulmoni Dasi.<ref name="Bannerji2001">{{cite book|author=Himani Bannerji|title=Inventing Subjects: Studies in Hegemony, Patriarchy and Colonialism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OLyDd5QvDd4C&pg=PA75|accessdate=8 December 2014|year=2001|publisher=Anthem Press|isbn=978-1-84331-073-0|pages=74–76}}</ref> The case led to the conviction of the husband in 1890 and triggered several legal reforms.<ref name="CoronilSkurski2006">{{cite book|author1=Fernando Coronil|author2=Julie Skurski|title=States of Violence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ftne6Ezh5aAC&pg=PA417|accessdate=8 December 2014|year=2006|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=0-472-06893-8|page=417}}</ref><br />
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The facts were that eleven-year-old girl bride Phoolmani Devi died due to excessive bleeding. When her husband Hari Mohan, who was in his mid-thirties, attempted to consummate their marriage despite his wife being eleven years old.<br />
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Although the autopsy report clearly indicated an injured vagina as the cause of death, the husband was later acquitted of the rape charge because laws on rape excluded marital rape<ref>https://www.lawarticle.in/marital-rape-in-india/ </ref> from the purview of punitive law was completely exempted.<br />
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==Events==<br />
Phulmoni Dasi was a ten-year-old Bengali girl with a 30-year-old husband named Hari Mohan Maiti. She died after her husband tried to consummate their marriage.<ref name="Bannerji2001"/><ref name="Smith2008">{{cite book|author=Bonnie G. Smith|title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History: 4 Volume Set|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EFI7tr9XK6EC&pg=PA60|accessdate=8 December 2014|year=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-514890-9|page=60}}</ref><ref name="Sreenivas2008">{{cite book|author=Mytheli Sreenivas|title=Wives, Widows, and Concubines: The Conjugal Family Ideal in Colonial India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zvf7zccTKTEC&pg=PA71|accessdate=8 December 2014|year=2008|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=0-253-35118-9|page=71}}</ref><br />
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==Trial==<br />
The case went to trial in the Calcutta Sessions Court on 6 July 1890.<ref name="Sinha1995">{{cite book|author=Mrinalini Sinha|title=Colonial Masculinity: The 'manly Englishman' and The' Effeminate Bengali' in the Late Nineteenth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zNJRAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA143|date=1 January 1995|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=978-0-7190-4285-0|pages=143–}}</ref> The girl's mother provided testimony against the husband.<ref name="Sreenivas2008"/> The husband was convicted under Section 338 of the [[Indian Penal Code]] for "causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others".<ref name="CoronilSkurski2006"/> Under an exception clause in Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code, introduced in 1860, sex with one's own wife was not considered as rape.<ref name="Sinha1995"/> As Phulmoni was of legal age and married to Maiti, he was sentenced to 12 months of hard labor.<ref name="Sreenivas2008"/> The case is known as ''Empress v. Hari Mohan Maiti''.<ref name="Smith2008"/><br />
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==Reforms==<br />
On 9 January 1891, the [[Viceroy of India]], [[Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne|Lord Lansdowne]] presented a bill before the [[Council of India]], which was then headed by [[Andrew Scoble]], called the "Age of Consent". It sought to amend Section 376 of the [[Indian Penal Code]]. Previously, the age of consent had been set at 10 in 1860. After the bill was passed on 29 March 1891, the Section 376 included sex with a girl under 12 even if the person is the wife of the perpetrator, as rape.<ref name="Bannerji2001"/><br />
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==References==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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{{Rape in India}}<br />
[[Category:Violence against children]]<br />
[[Category:1890 in India]]<br />
[[Category:1891 in India]]<br />
[[Category:1889 in India]]<br />
[[Category:Rape in India]]<br />
[[Category:Marital rape]]<br />
[[Category:Incidents of violence against girls]]</div>imported>Mr. Guye