Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act 2015: Marital rape

Under Section 48 spouses may also deny the other spouse of their right to consummate on reasonable grounds during the course of the marriage, which include (i) poor health, (ii) recuperation from child birth, (iii) recovery from surgery, (iv) a reasonable fear that sexual intercourse is likely to cause physical or psychological injury to one or both spouses, and (v) respect for custom. Under Section 62, a husband commits rape if he has sexual intercourse with his wife without her consent during judicial separation.

Topics

• Domestic and intimate partner violence
• Sexual violence and rape

Geographical location

• Africa
• Malawi

Keywords

• consent
• criminal law and procedure
• marital rape
• sexual assault

Year

• 2015

External URL

• Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act 2015: Marital rape

Type

• Legislation

Jurisdiction

• Malawi