Scope of Penalising Marital Rape in Indian Jurisprudence

The concept of rape within marriage agonises the wife to the very core. It is an unbearable thought affecting the mind of the women that they must face such a dreadful act and still have to silently suffer through it. Though this silence is not self-enforced. The lack of laws and adverse social approach regarding the issue have helped this evil to hide behind the curtain of marriage. Today, everywhere we talk about women empowerment. Even, women have been provided many rights through various constitutional and legislative enactments based on ‘principles of equality’. But in a patriarchal society like India, would women be empowered in real sense without criminalising marital rape! The concept of ‘rape is rape, irrespective of the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator’ ought to be recognised by law.