India is a country where concerns about a woman's safety are brought up regularly. Ironically, it stands among the 36 countries that have not denounced conjugal assaults. Marital rape is one such heinous practice that has been widely prevailing across the nation for decades. It involves forced or nonconsensual sexual intercourse with one's legal spouse, especially women. In India, raping a spouse during a marriage isn’t a crime. Specifically, the ‘Indian Penal Code’ of 1860 does not recognize raping a spouse during a marriage as a crime. The magnitude of the issue continues to go unheard even though the fact that it violates Articles 14 and 21 of the Indian Constitution with thousands of petitions filed in court every day. The researcher, using a doctrinal approach, aims to bring to light the serious problem of marital rape of women. The research doubts the justification of a married man perpetrating such brutalities as a right of marriage. It also emphasises the meagre legal options for women whom their husbands have sexually abused. Moreover, the article analyses the present legal protections, pinpoints the shortcomings of the courts, and suggests measures for the criminalisation of marital rape in India.
