Siliguri: Each night, behind closed doors, countless women in India endure a form of violence that remains largely invisible—not because it does not exist, but because the law refuses to name it.
“I said no. I cried, I resisted—but it didn’t matter,” recalls Meena (name changed), a 32-year-old homemaker from Uttar Pradesh. “He told me I am his wife. That he has a right.”
Meena’s story is not an isolated one. Across the country, women report being coerced into sexual acts by their husbands—acts that would be criminal if committed by anyone else, yet fall into a legal grey area within marriage. Under current Indian law, non-consensual sex by a husband with his adult wife is not classified as rape, effectively excluding it from official crime statistics.
Survey-based evidence, including data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), indicates that a significant number of married women have experienced sexual violence at the hands of their spouses. Yet, due to stigma, fear, and lack of legal recognition, reporting remains exceptionally low.
“Where would I go?” asks Farida (name changed), a 27-year-old from West Bengal. “If I complain, my family says adjust. The police say it’s a ‘family matter.’”
This systemic silence contributes to a troubling paradox: while India records tens of thousands of rape cases annually, the overwhelming majority of sexual violence within marriage goes uncounted.
Beyond Numbers: The Human Cost
The consequences extend far beyond physical harm. Survivors often report severe psychological trauma, including anxiety, depression, and loss of self-worth.
“I feel like I don’t own my own body,” says Kavita (name changed), a working professional in Delhi. “Marriage was supposed to be a partnership. Instead, it feels like a prison.”
Activists argue that the absence of legal recognition reinforces harmful norms—that marriage implies perpetual consent, and that a woman’s autonomy is secondary to marital obligations.
The issue is deeply intertwined with the broader status of women in India. Economic dependence, societal expectations, and entrenched patriarchal attitudes often leave women with little room to assert their rights.
“In many households, a woman is still expected to obey, endure, and preserve the marriage at all costs,” says a gender rights advocate. “This makes it nearly impossible for survivors to speak out.”
The normalization of such abuse perpetuates a cycle where violence is internalized as duty, and resistance is seen as deviance. The exclusion of marital rape from criminal law has been a subject of ongoing legal and public debate. Critics argue that it violates constitutional guarantees of equality and personal liberty, while supporters of the exception cite concerns about misuse and the sanctity of marriage.
Legal experts, however, emphasize that the current framework creates a gap in justice.
“When the law fails to recognize an act as a crime, it not only denies justice but also signals societal acceptance,” says a senior advocate.
As India grapples with questions of gender justice and equality, the issue of marital rape remains a stark reminder of the distance yet to be covered. Until it is recognized in law, it will continue to exist in the shadows—unreported, unrecorded, and unresolved.
And for millions of women, the silence will remain not a choice, but a condition imposed upon them.