Marital Rape- It’s Time to Forbid this Evil Practice

Vipul Pathak and Khushbu Sangwan
Centre For Legal Studies – Gitarattan International Business School, India

Volume III, Issue IV, 2020

Marital rape is not a criminal offence in India. Since 70 years of the enactment of the best constitution of the world (.i.e. The Constitution of India), the women in India are deprived of their fundamental rights. The exception 2 of section 375 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 immunes a husband from the liability and punishment of rape, when he commits sexual intercourse with his wife ‘against her will’ or ‘without her free consent.’ The Constitution of India enshrines ‘Right to equality’, ‘Right to dignity’, ‘Right to life and personal liberty.’ The Hon’ble Supreme Court has declared the Right to ‘autonomy, privacy and choice over sexual intimacies’ as an integral part of Right to life and personal liberty. The exception 2 of section 375 conveys dishonor to the rights enshrined under the Constitution of India. The ultimate aim of the study is to prove that the exception 2 of section 375 of IPC violates Article 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution. Moreover, this study advocates for the criminalization of marital rape.