Stealthing: Decoding the Notion of ‘Consent’ in Light of Indian Legal Jurisprudence

Stealthing is the surreptitious removal of a condom during sexual intercourse which affects the consent of the victim. Analysing the current academic debate around stealthing, this paper deliberates on the different methods utilised by scholars to prove the vitiation of consent to sexual intercourse after condom removal. Based on the pioneering work on this subject, the three primary criteria discussed are risk, literal fact and deception. The Indian courts’ understanding of consent could prove to be helpful to the global debate on the flaws in the three approaches. This paper concludes that such jurisprudence will significantly benefit from the current understanding of consent in India, especially in the case of ‘rape by deception’. Further research into the subject of non-consensual condom removal (NCCR) and consent itself is imperative.