Bhavya Dayal, NMIMS School of Law, Navi Mumbai
“Her friends used to tell her it wasn't rape if the man was your husband. She didn't say anything, but inside she seethed; she wanted to take a knife to their faces.”
- F. H. Batacan
Rape is illegal sex without a person's consent due to physical drive or dangers, or due to deceptive demonstration of the perpetrator. Rape by an outsider is a criminal offence in India under sections 375 and 376 of the Indian Penal Code1. Surprisingly, it expressly excludes marital rape from the scope of conviction. Marital rape is sex between a spouse and his better half without her consent or under duress. The patriarchal framework that governs Indian families has always regarded women as unimportant property of their significant other or guardian. As a result, rape was regarded as the theft of ladies and a crime against a spouse or guardian. This belief system has influenced our legislators to disregard the offence of spouse rape by giving it the shield of the spouse's wedding right, and by doing so, they are silently tolerating that ladies are only a protest of her better half's sexual satisfaction with no will of her own over her sexuality. This decision has established the ladies' right to uniformity and equity.
