Pakistan, July 25 -- A 19-year-old bride from Lyari is dead, allegedly raped and tortured by her husband within days of her wedding. An FIR under Section 376-B of the Penal Code, which defines non-consensual sex within marriage as rape, has been lodged.

The very existence of this provision shows how far the law is from prevailing social attitudes, where marital rape is still treated as unimaginable.

The gap between statute and practice is glaring. Police stations dismiss spousal abuse as "domestic disputes," hospitals fail to collect or preserve evidence, and courts seldom fast-track such cases. The law exists. No qualms about that, but those tasked with enforcing it look the other way, as if a marriage licence erases a woman's right to...