Marital Rape: An Institutionalized Crime
- IJLLR Journal
- Jan 9
- 2 min read
Kanan Joshi, Law College, Dehradun
Gargi Pant, Law College, Dehradun
ABSTRACT
Marital rape, often overlooked or jarred, is a widely tolerated manifestation of violence within the context of marriage. Marital rape refers to non- consensual sexual acts perpetrated by one spouse against another. Despite the growing recognition of women's rights in various countries, the Indian legal system disregards marital rape as a legal offense. The problem here lies in the Determination of consent of either of the spouses which needs to be continuous, but due to lack of education and awareness reluctance and discomfort are not given primal importance along with that patriarchal structures often normalize the unequal power dynamic within marriages, which leads to spousal entitlement where one holds absolute power over the other mostly leads to violation of the integrity of the spouse. This form of sexual violence challenges the traditional notion that marriage implies automatic consent to sexual activity. This paper highlights the need to penalize marital rape and what might be the challenges that often stem from deeply ingrained societal norms which undermine the severity of such acts within marital relationships. The objective of this paper is to bring attention to the violation of women’s fundamental rights, specifically, those protected under Article 14, Article 19, and Article 21 these articles though guarantee every citizen's right to equality, freedom of speech, and expression and right to life and personal liberty but marital rape undermines the principle by assuming implied consent and degrades the woman to mere objects within marriage and negatively impacts their mental, emotional and physical well- being. Despite these constitutional rights, India does not have specific laws criminalizing marital rape. Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) penalizes forced sexual intercourse within marriage only if the wife is below 18 years of age. The absence of specific legislation criminalizing marital rape in India is a significant concern and a barrier to upholding women’s fundamental rights within marital relationships. This paper will also provide a solution to address the need to adequately criminalize marital rape.
