• SONIA DEVI

Rape per se is an offence against woman, violating her dignity and self-respect and when itoccurs within the four-walls of a matrimonial home, it reduces the woman to the status of anobject used merely for sexual gratification. There is an immediate need for a distinct law onmarital/spousal rape in India, which should be at par with the accepted international norms on this issue.Rape within marriage is a concept that recognizes the wife to the very core. The dread ofhaving to face it and still have to silently suffer through it is an unbearable thought that affects the psyche of the women. This self-enforced silence has a very detrimental effect on the emotional,psychological and mental stability of women. However, this silence is not exactly self-enforced.The lack of laws and abundant social stigmas against the act of marital rape is one of the primaryreasons that the evil of marital rape is still hidden behind the sacrosanct of marriage. The woman has been given the right to fight for protection when the violators are outside entities, but when the perpetrator of her bodily integrity is her own husband, who she married withall the pomp and show, such protection is withdrawn by the legislators.In light of this, the idea that a woman (wife) has to have sex with her husband irrespective of her will, consent, health, etc., is absolutely unacceptable to a civilized society. Therefore there isno justification or applicability of the notion of marital exemption in the current times. It is true that mere criminalization of marital rape in India will not end the problem, but it sure is a important step towards changing women’s experience of sexual violence in a marriage. It is high time that the concept of “rape is rape, irrespective of the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator” is recognized by the law and put strictly to force.It also looks at the present legal stand available for women who face such abuse. Finally, the paper concludes with the opinion of the author on the saidsubject

marital rape, self-enforced silence, civilized society, marital exemption,  

"MARITAL RAPE: THE BITTER TRUTH OF OUR SOCIETY", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.9, Issue 12, page no.f498-f505, December-2022, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2212562.pdf

"MARITAL RAPE: THE BITTER TRUTH OF OUR SOCIETY", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.9, Issue 12, page no. ppf498-f505, December-2022, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2212562.pdf