Abstract

Marriage is sacrosanct in Indian culture, and the wife is expected to entirely submit to her husband. The rest of the world has not heard much of marital rape as a crime, but in the legal space marital rape/spousal rape is not a new term. Is it true that in a marriage between two individuals, permission for sexual encounters is implied? Is it true that a woman's consent fades after she marries? These are issues that emerge in the context of marriage yet are rarely addressed. Concerns about marriage consent and sexual experiences have grown louder in the twenty-first century. Women have the right to privacy and personal liberty, but married life is different. Women were given equal status during the Vedic period but deteriorated and worsened after many invasions and especially during the British invasion in India. India is one of the few countries where marital rape is tolerated. When a woman's right to her own body is abused on a daily basis under the pretext of marriage where does that leave her? Marital rape is a human rights violation against women. The authors examines the assumption of consent in marriage, as well as judicial developments toward criminalization of marital rape. Marital rape is a crime which has been unnoticed for a long time and it needs to be criminalized.

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