The whole situation regarding marital rape in our Indian society needs to be changed. It is very clear and obvious that men, as a holder of title husband, are clearly misusing their position in marital settings. They just think that they have some kind of license to derive sexual pleasure from their spouses whenever and wherever they desire. This has ultimately reduced the position of women to mere private property. This position cannot be allowed to hold water in the present time where the constitution has evolved in terms of rights and the importance given to the living conditions and equality is more than ever.
The whole situation has emerged from the historical background of the position of marriage as a kind of contract where the wife was treated as the property of the husband. Be it any religion, the central theme that ran in the marriage contract was that the ownership over the wife. According to this notion, the criminal laws were evolved, which justifies marital rape. But in the present context, when the boundaries of fundamental rights are ever-increasing, it is inevitable that this position must be changed. The main hurdle in between the change is the strong religious roots which are not easy to move and the lack of political will from political parties isn’t helping. The deep-rooted patriarchal mindset, which has taught our men that they have some kind of license also needs to be changed.
Some positive steps however have been taken, recently the honorable Supreme Court of India, in that case, raise the minimum age from voluntary sex to 18 years, also the right to privacy has been increasing its boundaries. It is now to be seen that how are political representatives use these examples to make laws according to modern times. along with that, we have to make other women more educated to us they’re right, so to make them realize that they are not mere property in the hands of their husbands, but a human being who has same fundamental rights.