Published Paper Details:

Marital rape has been prevalent in many countries from time immemorial, and in some countries, considering the reproductive rights of women and its impact on the physical and mental health of women, it has been criminalised. Marital rape is a result of not recognizing the identity of women. Apart from that, marital rape violates the right to health of women under Article 21 of the Constitution from a health perspective. The marital rape exemption does not consider the vulnerability of a disabled spouse in a marriage. But in India, marital rape prevails, and this article analyses the validity of the legal principles based on which marital rape is not yet abolished in India and analyses the marital rape from different angles, like right to health, protection of disabled people. This article is studied with the doctrinal method by relying on secondary sources like Statutes, Scholarly articles from reputed journals, Judicial pronouncements, etc. This discussion article makes a comparative study of criminalization of marital rape in countries like the US, UK, etc. The results show that the marital rape exemption is based on old customary practices where women did not have individual identity and bodily privacy. The results also indicate that the marital rape exemption is in contravention of the fundamental right to health under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, recognised by various Supreme Court judgments. The results further tell that marital rape is not considered from the perspective of the disabled spouse. Therefore, marital rape should be criminalised on the basis that it violates the right to health, protection of disabled persons against marital rape and also to recognize the identity and privacy of women inside marriage.