Sanctity of Marriage or Immunity for Violence? a Jurisprudential Examination of Conjugal Rape in India

Abstract

Rape fundamentally constitutes a breach of the worth of a woman and self-worth, and when perpetrated within the institution of marriage, it dehumanises the woman to a simple instrument of sexual pleasure. India urgently needs to pass a separate legislation that addresses spousal or marital rape and brings it into compliance with accepted international norms. A wife is severely traumatised by the idea of rape in a marriage. Her cognitive, emotional, and mental well-being suffers greatly as a result of her anxiety of having to endure such brutality in quiet. This stillness, though, is not all self-imposed. It is mostly caused by the lack of legal safeguards and the ongoing societal shame surrounding marital rape, which permits this type of assault to continue to go unpunished under the pretence of marital purity. Although the law protects women from outside dangers, it does not protect them when the attacker is their own spouse, whom they married formally and sincerely. Married women are essentially denied the same protection and physical autonomy as others due to this legal difference. It is completely inappropriate in today's culture for a wife to be expected to comply with her spouse's sexual requests irrespective of her will, permission, or health. A contemporary, civilised legal system cannot accommodate the antiquated marital rape exception. Making marital rape a crime is an important first step in changing how sexual violence in marriage is viewed and dealt with, even if it might not totally solve the issue. Whatever the connection among the perpetrator and the victim, the law must acknowledge and uphold the fundamental premise that rape is rape.