ABSTRACT
This chapter makes an interrogation into the legal concept of consent in connection with the sociological discussions around marriage in India. The four sections of the chapter explore (a) the presumption of consent in literature on marriage and kinship in Indian sociology and a few contemporary studies around ‘love’ marriages; (b) from contract to rape – describing the legal landscape of the meanings and contexts of consent; (c) contemporary discussions of consent through the promise of marriage and its breach; and (d) is there any space at the edge of the juridical to construct a counter-narrative to the presumption of consent? By using feminist jurisprudential arguments to critique the legal positivist definition of consent, this chapter is at the cusp of sociology and legal feminism. But it also aims at exploring a space beyond the legal, as well as one away from marriage – towards self-reflexivity and complex lived realities around intimacy.
