The Royal Opera House Wears Saree to Voice Against Marital Rape

It has been more than 20 years since Zaaria Patni came out of a marital relationship. Recounting how she was a victim of domestic violence and marital rape, she still breaks down in tears as she shares her story at the Royal Opera House. India’s only surviving opera house, meanwhile, is decked with a four-kilometre-long saree — a living petition to criminalise marital rape in India.

Patni, now a TEDx speaker and author, left her house in 2005 when she was three months pregnant and never went back. According to India’s National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) and recent reports, nearly one in three Indian women has experienced spousal physical or sexual violence.

The data also shows that around 18 per cent of married women say they are unable to refuse sex with their husbands, while one in five men admit they would become angry if their wives refused. Yet more than 90 per cent of women who suffer sexual violence never seek help or report it to anyone.

"The idea behind not reporting or talking to someone is also rooted in the lessons of endurance that women are taught," says Supreet K Singh, co-founder and CEO of Red Dot Foundation, as she dons a duppatta - a small cut out from the saree with signatures - with a black Indian outfit. 

'Infinite saree'

Not just her duppatta but the entire four-km long saree - starting with the manequin representing a woman adorns the ceilings of the Royal Opera House and continues to spread out of the building wrapping it entirely in the hues of orange, red, and some lighter shades. "We wanted the hues that women usually wear when they get married," she says, speaking to Local Samosa and pointing to the saree outside the building.

Singh, whose NGO works for the survivors of sexual violence, started an online petition at Change.org platform, and to highlight the cause, worked with the designer Nivedita Saboo, to create what she calls, the "world's longest saree". "It was very clear that we wanted to make the world's longest saree while creating a live petition." 

Unveiling the saree, Singh, also a filmmaker, does not hesitate to say how her grandmother had cried when she, the sixth girl child in the family, was born. Referring to how patriarchy is entrenched in social structures, she says that, even with the saree, the focus was more on reaching the masses than on making it look like a premium design using fabrics such as silk.

A fluid fabric with polyester amongst its components, its pallu highlights a Zardosi and embroidery work. "It was Nivedita's idea to also design the story with other elements along with the signatures of people," she says, adding that it took a total of 163 people, 28 hundred and 50 hours to complete the work.

But why "infinity saree"? "It takes inspiration from the mythological tale of the Mahabharata," she says referring to the Draupadi Cheer-haran story. "The divinity might have helped somebody, but today, the law is supposed to help," she adds.

A colonial-era provision that continues

Under current law, non-consensual sex with a wife aged 18 or above is not recognised as rape, leaving millions of married women without legal protection. While the Supreme Court criminalised sex with a wife under 18 in 2017, the exception continues to apply to adult women. After a split verdict by the Delhi High Court in 2022, the Supreme Court consolidated multiple petitions and initiated hearings in 2024, later deferring proceedings.

In December 2025, Member of Parliament Dr. Shashi Tharoor termed the marital rape exception a serious injustice and introduced a private member’s Bill in the Lok Sabha seeking its removal, calling it a colonial-era provision that undermines women’s rights to equality, dignity and bodily autonomy.

On the other hand, the parliament has, time and again, debated for the exception, on the pretext of "marital culture". Talking to Local Samosa, a Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court, N. S. Nappinai, asks about the rationale behind. "The exception to the marital rape comes from the United Kingdom. It is a British Common Law construct from the 17th century. The U.K. also did away with it in 1991," she says.

Adding to it, she further, says, "Following that, many commonwealth countries which had inherited this exception from the U.K.laws also did away with it, Australia." "So, I want to ask, are these countries which have done away with the marital rape exception failing in maintaining their social fabric? Are they failing in ensuring that the marital fabric is intact? So, where do you even get the illustrative example to substantiate this argument?," she asks, adding that since consent argument got diluted becase of the way the society has evolved, people have been coming up with new excuses such as how it can weaken the marital fabric, goes against the normative behaviour, "merely to hold on to something which has no right to continue in today's world".

Currently, and, as Audrey D’Mello, who is running Majlis, which was started by her mother and also a victim of domestic voilence, says, the only provision is Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which makes cruelty to a married woman by her husband or his relatives a criminal offense, punishable by up to three years imprisonment and a fine. "It is so generic and vague that it includes 'physical and mental', in the position. The lawmakers need to understand that a crime of marital rape is not isolated but there is a spectrum of violence that exists."

When Majlis started working for women in the 1980s, the conversation was dowry as the major problem with women. D’Mello says that it was only later that other causes could easily be identified for violence and hence, she is now vocal about the "spectrum of violence".

Similarly, even after separating from her partner, Patni had to face various challenges. Not only did she win the custody of her son later, but she also petitioned for obtaining her son's passport, which for a single parent was not possible earlier. "Foreign ministry drove me insane, and it was great turmoil to get the passport but it happened eventually," she says, while her son sits among the audience and listens to her mother speak on the stage. 

Among the audience is also a transman, who sits along with his mother and shares how such stories and discourses are beneficial for people across the sexual spectrum. For Supreet K Singh, the medium, currently, the saree which is going to be placed at the open-air ground in the Elphinstone College, as part of the  Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2026 from January 31 to February 8.

Otherwise, the saree will keep travelling. "The next destination is Nivedita's store in Pune, then, Delhi," Singh says, adding that the online petition will close by the end of March after which the senior advocate will work on either joining the current petition or filing a new one.

But if not travelling, where will this long saree be? "At my workshop," says Singh, also a fashion designer. It might also travel abroad, she adds.