Marital rape refers to the intercourse between the husband and the wife, where the wife has not consented to have sexual intercourse but has been subjected to force or threat of force or physical abuse or violence by the husband. It not just constitutes sexual intercourse with the husband but can also include other sexual acts that the wife maybe forced to perform against her will.

Marital rapes can be categorised into three types, mainly:

BATTERING RAPE, FORCE-ONLY RAPE AND OBSESSIVE RAPE-

1. BATTERING RAPE- In a battering rape case, the women faces both sexual and physical violence by the husband. The wife maybe subjected to physical violence during the rape or in certain case the man may coerce the woman to have sexual intercourse in order to make up for the violence. Most women who suffer through marital rape fall under this category.
2. FORCE-ONLY RAPE- In this case, the husband uses force only to the extent to coerce the wife into having sexual intercourse with him. In such cases, battering is generally doesn’t occur. These rapes generally occur when the woman does not give consent to sexual intercourse.
3. OBSESSIVE RAPE- This type of rape is generally sadistic in nature. This involves torture during the sexual intercourse and is involves physical violence.

Laws related to rape fall under section 375 of the India Penal Code. According to this, ‘rape’ can be defined as the sexual intercourse that a man has with a woman when any of these characteristics are fulfilled:

1. Against her will;
2. Without her consent;
3. With her consent, which maybe obtained by putting her or any person she is interested in fear of death or hurt;
4. With her consent, when the man knows that he is not her husband, and that the wife’s consent is given because she believes him to be her husband or believes that they are lawfully married;
5. With her consent, where at the time of giving the consent she was of an unsound mind or maybe intoxicated and therefore does not understand the consequences and circumstances of the consent she is giving;
6. With or without her consent, when she is sixteen years of age. 

However, there is one exception to the law of rape defined in the IPC, which states that sexual intercourse by a husband with his wife, where the wife is above fifteen years of age cannot be considered rape. Although this exception has been amended to 18 years for women, yet it does not prevent marital rape in any manner.

In the case of Bhodhisattwa Gautam v. Subhra Chakraborty, it was observed by the Supreme Court, that the crime of rape is a violation of the right to life of person which is enshrined under article 21. It was stated that it violates the very fundamental aspect of life, the protection of a person of a woman. However it is ironic when the same court tends to negate this provision in case of Marital rape.