Rape in Marriage

A Socio-Legal Analysis of Perception and Attitude of Wife

Abstract

Marital rape has to be seen from the prism of changing social perspectives and dynamics. Right from early times men were given supremacy in all social domains, will and desire of women became irrelevant and secondary. Rape within marriage is a concept that agonies the wife to the very core. Marriage in the modern times is now regarded as a partnership of equals, and no longer one in which the wife must be the subservient chattel of the husband. Then why marital rape is still not recognized as a crime, is a question for both society and government; as both are equally responsible for non-resolution of this menace. The present study is a socio-legal in nature, which is based on questionnaires distributed among 100 married women of Lucknow, India to appraise their opinions on various issues related to rape of wife by husband and to suggest measures with some concrete conclusion.