Will Marital Rape ever be criminalized in India?

            Rape is a crime and the person accused can be punished severely by the law if proven guilty. There are laws against the crime of rape which can be used to bring justice to the victims and punish the culprits. But what if this grave sin is committed on a woman with whom she is supposed to spend her entire life that is her husband? Its becomes a marital where the husband rapes his own wife within their marriage. If a rape by unknown person can be so traumatizing for the victim for a long time or even throughout her life then the trauma of rape of woman by her own husband is unimaginable because they have to face that person everyday. Unfortunately, marital rape is not criminalized in India because marriage is seen as sacred institution here. But how can a marriage be sacred when the man who you are bonded with this institution violates your right and consent of physical intimacy? How can a woman who is raped by her own husband can continue to live with him with the possibility of being raped again by him?

            Section 375, the provision of rape in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) considers- “Sexual intercourse by  man with his own wife, the wife not being under 15 years of age, is not rape.” Section 376 of IPC provides punishment for rape. According to the section, the rapist should be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than 7 years but which may extend to life or for a term extending up to 10 years and shall also be liable to fine unless the woman raped is his own wife, and is not under 12 years of age, in which case, he shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 2 years with fine or with both. These laws prove that how Indian government is insensitive towards marital rape and don’t want to criminalize it just because the culprit is the victim’s husband. According to Women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi, the marital rape cannot be criminalized in the Indian context. She says, "It is considered that the concept of marital rape, as understood internationally, cannot be suitably applied in the Indian context due to various factors e.g. level of education/illiteracy, poverty, religious beliefs, mindset of the society to treat the marriage as a sacrament." Her statement angered a lots of women rights group. How can a woman who is supposed to work for women and child development say such a regressive and gender-biased statement when there are more than 60% marital rape victims in India? It is said that women are raped more by people known to them than people unknown to them. What many people are not ready to accept that most of those known people are victim’s husbands themselves who are supposed to respect their dignity instead of violating their dignity?

            With the statistics showing as more than 60% of women as victims of marital rape in India, there is a high possibility that we see some victims as well as culprits of marital rape when we are outside our house and travelling. But we can't figure out who among the people we see everyday are victims and culprits of marital rape. When we see a married couple, we can have thoughts in our mind about the couple that whether they are happily married or unhappily married, whether they had love marriage or they had arranged marriage to the extent of whether the wife is satisfied and loves her sexual relation with her husband or she is raped regularly by her own husband. We are not wicked to have these kinds of thought process as its a normal human nature.

            Its high time there should be strict laws for marital rape. Marital rape needs to be criminalized as many women in India suffer greatly from it. The women who show courage to file complaint against their husbands are turned away by the police. With the lack of support for such a heinous crime will Marital Rape ever be criminalized in India?