A women in her day to day life faces a lot of problems women are being exploited since ages. In India when two people are married to each other it is basically implied that both have given their consent for sexual intercourse. Marital rape is also known as spouse rape in which a person is forced to have sexual relationship with his spouse without her consent.

The concept of Marital Rape in India is an example of implied consent. Imagine being raped by your own husband how will you feel there are many women in India who are being raped regularly by their husbands. Rape is defined under section 375 of Indian Penal code. Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code defines rape as:
 "sexual intercourse with a woman against her will, without her consent, by coercion, misrepresentation or fraud or at a time when she has been intoxicated or duped, or is of unsound mental health and in any case if she is under 18 years of age."

There is exception to this which is Sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife who is above the age of 18, is not sexual assault.

This exception gives a man full right to have sexual intercourse with her wife without her consent he can force her wife to establish a forceful sexual relation and he will not be held liable for any crime. Here we can conclude that a man is allowed to Rape his wife who is above 18yrs old we can say that a married Women can convict his rapist but a Married Women who has been in sexual activity with his husband without her consent cannot convict his husband for committing the offence of Rape.

Marital Rape is a patriarchal culture which encourages a man to do such violent and harsh behavior towards his wife. In India our legal system has not recognized Martial Rape till now. It is a very sensitive topic which has not been raised because India is a Male centric society where a women is taught you cannot deny to your husband allow him to do whatever he wants and this is a teaching which is passed from one generation to another. Women have always been a part of exploitation.

In a case of Phulmoni Das a ten year old girl child died of excessive bleeding due to sexual intercourse by her husband who was in his thirties but the Husband was not charged for rape he was convicted for ‘causing grievous harsh by doing a rash and negligent act dangerous to life. From the above mentioned case we get to know that what is the attitude of people towards Marital rape in India. In a marriage tolerating, compromising, adjusting is one of the biggest drawback in Indian culture.

In our Indian culture concept of marriage is a very male dominating concept. A man can put restrictions on his wife but a women is not allowed to deny for a sexual intercourse is this the women empowerment we wanted for our society. If a women complaints against such act is considered anti family warrior it is believed that she wants to break this sacred bond between a husband and wife. The law makers of our country does not want to disturb the scared bond of marriage by making Marital Rape as an offence.

In the eye of our society marriage a blanket to sweep all the wrongs inside that. Our society needs to understand that marriage does not mean that the women is always ready and consenting for a sexual intercourse. Our society needs to be more aware for the concept of Marital rape it should be given a legal recognition in our society.

India is among those 36 countries who has not penalized the Marital rape as an offence. A women should be given a right to deny her husband for having sexual intercourse. Generally our society tends to judge the character of those women who stand against these harsh activities. Our society needs to accept those women who stand against these kind of harsh and violent act of their husband.

Written By: Archita Srivastava