CRIMINALIZATION OF MARITAL RAPE
Downloads
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55662/IJLDAI.2022.8603Keywords:
marital rape, Supreme Court, Forum of women, law, developmentAbstract
Rape may be perceived as an offense that only occurs between complete strangers, but, non-consensual intercourse occurs frequently in marriages too. 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." But if the women are a victim of rape by her husband or in other terms, is married to the man, there are no laws broken. There is no crime committed by a man who rapes his wife because “marital rape” is not recognised as an offence under the Indian Penal Code. India is amongst the 36 countries where marital rape is not a criminal offence.
External References to this Article
Loading reference data...
References
i Criminalization of Marital Rape in India, https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-2872-
criminalization-of-marital-rape-in-india.html.
ii Delhi High Court delivers split verdict on criminalising marital rape, issue to be taken up by a larger bench,
Firstpost (May 11, 2022), https://www.firstpost.com/india/delhi-high-court-delivers-split-verdict-on-
criminalising-marital-rape-issue-to-be-taken-up-by-a-larger-bench-10660891.html.
iii Live Law, Breaking: Delhi High Court Passes Split Verdict On Criminalizing Marital Rape, Justice Rajiv
Shakdher Holds Exception 2 Of Section 375 IPC Unconstitutional, (May 11, 2022), https://www.livelaw.in/top-
stories/delhi-high-court-passes-split-verdict-on-criminalizing-marital-rapejustice-rajiv-shakdher-holds-
exception-2-of-section-375ipc-unconstitutional-198832.
iv Criminalization of Marital Rape in India, https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-2872-
criminalization-of-marital-rape-in-india.html.
An Open Access Journal from The Law Brigade (Publishing) Group 120
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS AND ALLIED ISSUES
VOLUME 8 ISSUE 6 – ISSN 2454-1273
November- December 2022
v
Justice K. S. Puttaswamy vs. Union of India Writ Petition (Civil) No. 494 of 2012, (2017) 10 SCC 1
vi Criminalisation Of Marital Rape: How India Perceives 'Sex In Marriage', (May 11, 2022),
news-196162.
vii Harvinder Kaur v Harmender Singh AIR 1984 Delhi 66, ILR 1984 Delhi 546, 1984 RLR 187
viii T. Sareetha v. T.Venkata Subbaih AIR 1983 AP 356
ix Saroj Rani v. Sudershan Kumar AIR 1984 SC 1562
x Criminalization of Marital Rape in India, https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-2872-
criminalization-of-marital-rape-in-india.html.
xi Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar and Anr.(2014)8 SCC 273
xii Criminalisation Of Marital Rape: How India Perceives 'Sex In Marriage', (May 11, 2022),
news-196162.
xiii Criminalisation Of Marital Rape: How India Perceives 'Sex In Marriage', (May 11, 2022),
news-196162.
xiv Criminalisation of the Marital Rape in India- iPleaders, (June 10, 2019), https://blog.ipleaders.in/marital-rape-
criminalised-india/.
xv Gelles, Richard J. “Power, Sex, and Violence: The Case of Marital Rape.” The Family Coordinator, vol. 26,
no. 4, 1977, pp. 339–47. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/581754. Accessed 1 Nov. 2022.
xvi Gelles, Richard J. “Power, Sex, and Violence: The Case of Marital Rape.” The Family Coordinator, vol. 26,
no. 4, 1977, pp. 339–47. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/581754. Accessed 1 Nov. 2022.
xvii Landmark Judgement By SC Over Marital Rape; Permits Any Women To End Pregnancies | English News,
TimesNow (Sept. 29, 2022), https://www.timesnownews.com/videos/mirror-now/society/landmark-judgement-
by-sc-over-marital-rape-permits-any-women-to-end-pregnancies-english-news-video-94530321.
xviii Supra note 12
xix Marital Rape in India, (Oct. 31, 2022), https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-
License Terms
Ownership and Licensing:
Authors of research papers submitted to any journal published by The Law Brigade Publishers retain the copyright of their work while granting the journal specific rights. Authors maintain ownership of the copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication. Simultaneously, authors agree to license their research papers under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) License.
License Permissions:
Under the CC BY-SA 4.0 License, others are permitted to share and adapt the work, even for commercial purposes, provided that appropriate attribution is given to the authors, and acknowledgment is made of the initial publication by The Law Brigade Publishers. This license encourages the broad dissemination and reuse of research papers while ensuring that the original work is properly credited.
Additional Distribution Arrangements:
Authors are free to enter into separate, non-exclusive contractual arrangements for distributing the published version of the work (e.g., posting it to institutional repositories or publishing it in books), provided that the original publication by The Law Brigade Publishers is acknowledged.
Online Posting:
Authors are encouraged to share their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on personal websites) both prior to submission and after publication. This practice can facilitate productive exchanges and increase the visibility and citation of the work.
Responsibility and Liability:
Authors are responsible for ensuring that their submitted research papers do not infringe on the copyright, privacy, or other rights of third parties. The Law Brigade Publishers disclaims any liability for any copyright infringement or violation of third-party rights within the submitted research papers.
Citation Metrics
Published
Issue
Section
License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright © 2026 by Sanskriti Kaul
The copyright and license terms mentioned on this page take precedence over any other license terms mentioned on the article full text PDF or any other material associated with the article.
