No, you can express your lack of consent in any manner- through words, gestures, body language, or any form of verbal or non-verbal communication.

No, just because you don’t physically resist or put up a fight, does not mean that you have given consent. The law understands that sometimes a woman is forced to submit to a situation, and is not in a position to physically fight.

You can withdraw your consent at anytime before or even during the sexual act.

Statutory Rape is any sexual intercourse with a girl below the age of 18, whether with or without her consent. Law does not consider her consent valid and assumes the sexual act to be rape.

If the minor girl is below the age of 16 years, the punishment for statutory rape is even more stringent - a minimum of 20 years imprisonment and extendable to life imprisonment(Section 376, Indian Penal Code).

Date rape is used to refer to a specific type of rape- where the woman is intoxicated/drugged without her knowledge, such that she will have a temporary memory loss.

Date rape is punishable as rape in India, as it falls under the category of ‘lack of consent due to intoxication.’

Marital rape is when a woman’s husband commits the act of rape on her. Sadly, marital rape is not a punishable offence in India, unless the husband and wife are separated, or the wife is under 15 years of age.

Rape by husband, when husband and wife are separated (does not matter if separation is by court order or not), is punishable with 2-5 years of imprisonment.

Yes. It does not matter who the man committing the act of rape is- whether it is a family member, known person, stranger, boyfriend, etc. Only a husband is exempted from the charge of rape (see marital rape above).

Rape by a family member (relative) is punishment more stringently- minimum 10 years imprisonment and extendable to life imprisonment (Section 376, Indian Penal Code).

Yes. It does not matter who the man committing the act of rape is- whether it is a family member, known person, stranger, boyfriend, etc. What matters is whether or not you gave your consent.

Stricter punishment-
Rape by the boyfriend, as a person in a position of trust over you, is punishment more stringently- minimum 10 years imprisonment and extendable to life imprisonment (Section 376, Indian Penal Code).

Rape of a woman by two or more-persons or a group is called a gang rape. In such case, each one of them is charged with rape.

Stricter punishment-
The punishment for gang-rape is more stringent- minimum 20 years extendable to life imprisonment (Section 376D, Indian Penal Code).

The punishment for rape is jail for minimum 10 years and may extend to life imprisonment along with a fine. In extreme cases, the punishment can be death sentence also (Section 376, Indian Penal Code).

Rape committed by the woman’s relative, guardian, teacher, or anyone else in a position of trust or authority over the woman is punished more stringently.

Death sentence can be granted when a person is convicted for second time under any charge of rape.

1. Inform a trustworthy person who can support you/the victim through the complaint process
2. Take the victim for immediate medical help and examination. It is the duty of the doctor and hospital to examine a rape victim immediately. They can approach the police later, after attending to the victim (Supreme Court in State of Karnataka v. Manjanna).
3. Report the crime to the police. The victim can have her lawyer present while answering the police’s questions and it is the police’s duty to inform her of this right (Supreme Court in Delhi Domestic Working Women’s Forum). For information on how to report a crime, look here( Police Complaint).
4. Preserve all the evidence of the crime, including the clothes of the victim. Take photographs of everything with a date stamp if possible.
5. Write down everything (all the details about the crime such as time, date, location, facts leading up to the crime, etc.) so that you don’t forget any detail and there is no room for confusion.

Rape being a sensitive issue, there is no problem if the case is reported late (even after a few years of the incident). However, the more the delay, the tougher it is to gather evidence and catch the accused.

Within 24 hrs after the case is reported, the woman is taken for a medical examination(if not done before). She is also asked to give her statement in front of the Magistrate so the accused can be arrested as soon as possible (Section 164, Criminal Procedure Code).

Yes, a woman police officer must take down your complaint, as far as possible (Section 161, Criminal Procedure Code).

The medical procedure constitutes questions, full body examination and taking DNA samples along with taking few other material details (Section 164, Criminal Procedure Code).

Remember- The ‘two-finger test’ (where two fingers would be inserted into the vagina to check if it is rape) has been declared illegal.

A medical examination is conducted only with the consent of the victim and is conducted by a female registered medical practitioner (Section 53A, Criminal Procedure Code).

Yes, it helps the police to gather more evidence and also provides help to the victim.

The identity of a rape victim always remains hidden. No one can disclose the name of the rape victim. If someone does, the person is punishable with jail of two years and more (Section 228A, Criminal Procedure Code).

No, the victim does not need to face her accused in court. A rape trial, being sensitive, is conducted in the judge’s chamber and not in open court. Also, the cross- examination(glossary) of the accused and the victim is done separately(Section 273, Criminal Procedure Code).

No, courts have time and again held that the sexual history of the victim does not negatively affect the rape trial.

If the rape victim's testimony seems genuine to the court, the court will not even need further evidence. They can take a decision based on her testimony itself.