Why The Law Should Change Its Perspective On Marital Rape And Make It A Ground For Divorce

Anushka Singh, BA LLB, OP Jindal Global University

Introduction

This paper deals with arguments which could make marital rape a ground for divorce. It discusses the topic of marital rape in India and other countries. It further talks about Marital Rape and how overlooked and neglected it is by the law. Then it goes on to relate marital rape to some of the Sections present in personal laws that deal with marital rape and divorce. It centers around what marital rape is like in situations of girls from the age of 15-18. Whether the rape would be considered when it includes this age group. How it could be argued to get a divorce. Further, it highlights the various grounds that already exist for divorce and includes marital rape in those existing grounds as previously mentioned. It talks about how marital rape could be argued in terms of using Restitution of Conjugal Rights and cruelty.

Rape is Rape. It should not matter how the person who rapes another is related to them. Then why is marital rape still not a crime, or not even a separate ground for divorce. Why does the Indian society value marriage so much as an institution that the thought of anything breaking it apart is overlooked. Rape has always been a way to make women feel powerless and violate them. Marriage is seen as permanent consent; if a women gets married to a man she has definitely given him her consent for as long as they are married. Why should this be the case, why should a wife not be able to retract her consent. The idea of a good, traditional wife is deeply embedded in the minds of Indians. They want a wife who will listen to all their tantrums and have sex with her husband whenever he desires. This issue is very trivial in the eyes of the law. “In 2015, a petition filed by a woman in the apex court was dismissed on the ground that law shan’t change for one woman.”1 Although, this was said in the case of criminalizing marital rape, it still shows how the court dismisses and does not give importance to women’s issues.