Should Marital Rape be included as a Crime?

 Should Marital Rape be included as a Crime?

       BY: Vanshika Rao

India is one of the thirty-six countries that still have not criminalized marital rape. ThIndia is one of the thirty-six countries that still have not criminalized marital rape. The concept

of marital rape in itself is predicated on “implied consent”. Marriage between a man and a

woman here implies that both have consented to sexual intercourse and it cannot be otherwise.

This very concept is a fatal wound on the principles of independent women and feminist ideals.

The Constitution guarantees equality as given in Article 14, but the criminal law discriminates

against female victims who have been raped by their own husbands. This exception creates

two classes of women based on their marital status and immunizes actions perpetrated by men

against their wives. Exception 2’s distinction between married and unmarried women also

violates Article 14 as the classification created has no rational relation to the underlying

purpose of the statute. It is also a violation of article 21.The courts now acknowledge a right to

abstain from sexual intercourse and to be free of unwanted sexual activity enshrined in the

broader rights to life and personal liberty. Forced sexual cohabitation is a violation of that

fundamental right. There is no contrary ruling stating that the individual’s right to a privacy is

lost by the reason of marital association. The very existence of Exception 2, adversely affects

the physical and mental health of women and undermines their ability to live with dignity. It is

absolutely irrational to have a law in which, one part protects all women from sexual violence

but at the same time permits marital rape of a married woman by her husband. Therefore,

keeping in view the fundamental principles of equality and the goal of women empowerment,

marital rape should be incorporated as a crime.