Page 47 INDIA (CONTINUED) Ending Sex Discrimination in the Law EQUALITY NOW – BEIJING+25 unconstitutional. However, there are no criminal penalties for marital rape when a wife is over 18 years old. The failure to criminalize marital rape is also compounded by section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, which allows for the court to grant the remedy of “restitution of conjugal rights” when either the “husband or the wife has, without reasonable excuse, withdrawn from the society of the other”. Allowing the court to enforce “conjugal rights” when the wife does not wish to live with her husband makes the wife vulnerable to sexual violence, particularly since marital rape is not considered a criminal offence under Indian law. Article 14 of the Constitution of India: The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India. Article 15(1): The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them KUWAIT Law no. 16 of 1960 promulgating the Penal Code: Article 182: If the abductor marries the one he abducted, in a legally-recognized marriage with the permission of her guardian, and the guardian agrees that the abductor not undergo punishment, then he is not sentenced to punishment. Note: Article 29 of the Constitution of Kuwait: The people are peers in human dignity and have, in the eyes of the Law, equal public rights and obligations. Take Action – Kuwait Amir of Kuwait Sheik Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Kuwait Email: amiroffice@da.gov.kw contact@kuwaitmission.org (Mission to the UN in New York) Twitter: @egovkw Facebook: facebook.com/egovkw/ LIBYA The Penal Code: Take Action – Libya Article 424. Extinction of Offences and Stay of Execution of Penalties: If the offender marries the woman against whom the offense is committed, the offense and penalty shall be extinguished and the penal effects thereof shall cease. This shall apply both to the offender and to his accomplices, provided that the personal status law applicable to the offender does not authorise divorce or judicial divorce. Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj Tripoli LIBYA Email: presidential.affairs@libyan-parliament.org info@libyanmission-un.org (Mission to the UN in New York) But if the personal status law applicable to the offender authorises divorce or judicial divorce, then the marriage of the offender shall only stay criminal proceedings or execution of the penalty for a period of three years. The stay shall cease before the passage of three years from the date of the offense if the woman against whom the offense was committed is judicially divorced for no reasonable reason or if a ruling of divorce is issued on her behalf. Note: Article 6 of the Constitutional Declaration 2011 of Libya: Libyans shall be equal before the law. They shall enjoy equal civil and political rights with, have the same