“When a woman is attacked by an unknown person, she is left with a terrifying memory. When her husband rapes her, she is forced to live with the rapist“.
Marriage is the condition of being joined to an individual of the opposite sex as a husband or wife in a legally recognized consensual and contractual relationship. It is regarded as a sacred thread that connects two people for the rest of their lives.
In this article, Advocate Viraj Patil who is one of the best advocate in Kharghar from “ParthaSaarathi legal consultancy and dispute resolution firm”, will discuss everything you should know about marital rape.
MARITAL RAPE
“It’s obnoxious to mix a religious institution like marriage with a heinous crime like rape in the same sentence. However, the truth seems to combine them in the form of marital rapes.”- Says one of the best advocates in Kharghar from ParthaSaarathi legal consultancy and dispute resolution firm.
The act of forcible sexual intercourse by one partner without the consent of the other is known as marital rape. The keyword that transforms a marital sex into a marital rape is consent. Marriage cannot be construed as granting a spouse permission to have forcible sexual relations with the other spouse without the other spouse’s approval. Forced sexual activity is an assault on the other partner who does not want to be a party to it, and marital bonds cannot take away a spouse’s right to body autonomy. As the spouse committing marital rape disregards and disrespects the other spouse’s identity and feelings attached to the forceful act being done to them, it is unquestionably a type of sexual, domestic, and psychological assault on the partner in the marriage. Mutual respect, space, and companionship should characterize a marriage, rather than the suffocation that comes with forcefully granting absolute physical rights to one partner over the other. Marriage should be an extension of a person’s personality, not shackles that bind them to a suffocating relationship.
THE ACT OF TRAUMA ON BODY AND MIND IN MARITAL RAPE
Sexual abuse is most often associated with rape by a spouse, boyfriend, or ex-partner. The perpetrators of about 25% of all sexual assaults were current or ex-partners, according to a nine-nation study conducted by the European Union, and abuse was more common in assaults by ex-partners (50%) and partners (40%) than assaults by strangers or new acquaintances (25 percent ).
Rape is a traumatic experience in and of itself, and if experienced by a spouse in a marriage, it can leave an everlasting scar on the spouse’s mind and humiliate the spouse to the point that the relationship can never be repaired with the partner after that degrading sexual experience.
Marital rape may be a more traumatic experience than rape by a stranger because the confidence bond between the partners is broken blatantly and irreversibly in a marital rape. It maintains a state of mental anguish, shame, and hatred and disdain for the spouse.
It instills feelings of emotional despair and victimization in a spouse who is forced to engage in sexual activity with their spouse, and it is not a one-time event, making it difficult for the spouse to overcome these feelings and return to normalcy.
These types of rapes, such as marital rape, are distinct from other types of rape and sexual assault in that the victims feel trapped in a cage with their attacker, as opposed to other types of rapes in which the survivor may isolate themselves from their abuser and recover from such a traumatic event. This can be harmful to the spouse’s mental and emotional health, and it can exacerbate her sufferings because she has no legal remedy to get out of the situation.
MARITAL RAPES PROOF
It’s difficult to imagine the bleak reality of relationships in the form of marital rapes behind closed doors. The true image of marriage in society is most frequently seen as a strain of high moral standards being placed on the married couple rather than discussing the secret realities of their married life. To answer these secret facts behind closed doors, we must first ask ourselves how one can really show that he or she is being raped by his or her respective partner. In order to obtain justice in cases of marital rape, it is essential to prove before the courts that the intercourse was forced on the partner and to back up the claims with strong facts.
The burden of proof is on the person who would lose if no evidence was presented on either side, according to Section 102 of the Indian Evidence Act. As a result, the burden of proof will fall on the partner who claims to be a survivor of marital rape. Proving a marital rape is extremely difficult because basically bringing out the dark truth of one’s married life is nearly impossible for the simple reason that how can someone show that the sex was so violent that it was tantamount to “rape” in nature, and will society recognize it?
There are few evidences one can substantiate on to show the cruelty of intercourse or forced sex by one’s spouse –
- Lacerations, swelling, and physical trauma to the vaginal and anal regions.
- Cruelty in sexual encounters, such as emotional torment
- Harm to their vagina and rectum leads to clear indications that women are subjected to extremely violent rapes.
- When it is alleged that a survivor consented to a sexual act and it is rejected, the court is presumed to have done so under the Indian Evidence Act (IEA).
- In the case of male victims, nail marks, bruises, and physical trauma around the penis section.
Yes it is true that our society is not yet ready to understand the seriousness of such crime but at ParthaSaarathi legal consultancy and dispute resolution firm we have best advocate in Kharghar, Mumbai who will surely help you to get justice.
