Chiraya And Marital Rape: Cinema Addressing The Unaddressed Taboo Of Society

Cinema or OTT is generally a good medium of entertainment. However, many a times it turns to be a very powerful platform to not only raise the awareness but also question the taboo’s prevailing within the society. In addition to this, with the good exposure of relatable stories and highly captivating content, the creators are now able to focus on the social stigmas and taboo’s which are not addressed before. One of such good use of cinema and creativity in the recent web series on Jiohotstar, ‘Chiraya’. Centered on the theme of an unexplored and rarely discussed issue of marital rape, it explores the struggles of women and wives, facing this ordeal. 

The story of Chiraya revolves around the protagonist, Pooja, who is an independent but sensitive girl, married to Arun, a badly pampered, male chauvinist son of a progressive father. Her dreams of having a blissful marital life got shattered when her husband rapes her in the name of his “right over his wife” and left her shocked and traumatised. She tries to confront him in front of his in-laws, but was shunned by his so-called progressive father-in-law.

Chiraya, OTT series protagonist, seeing no hope and support from anywhere, she slits her genitals to prevent having intercourse with her husband. That’s when her sister-in-law, Kamlesh, finds out about her physical, mental and emotional trauma and abuse, and supports her in her fight against the injustice caused in the name of marriage and being a wife.

Marital Rape: What People Should Know And Be Should Be Aware Off. 

Marital Rape is a term used for any form of physical assault, forced and unnatural sex attempted or done by the husband on her wife or female spouse. 

Marital Rape, unlike other sexual offences against women, is not considered a punishable offence under the IPC or BNS in India. Hence, the husbands are shielded from the crime of forced sex with their wives. The government and the legal bodies in India state that criminalising forced sex in marriage or marital rape. 

As per the law stated in IPC section 375, “A husband cannot be charged for having forced sex, rape or unnatural sex with his wife, regardless of her willingness or consent.” The only examptions under the law are:

• If the wife is under the age of 15 years.
• If the partners have been separated and the wife has not consented for the sexual relations.

Although the examption terms are hardly fulfilled in any case as the legal age of marriage in India for females is above 18 years and adultery is legal as per law in India.

While many countries around the globe has criminalised the marital rape, its still not being under jurisdiction is a big question for the legal structure of India. The Government of India and Supreme court has shared a statement which says, “criminalising of any sort of actions is against the structure and institution of marriage and may lead to social disruptions”. 

However, many women’s welfare organisations have filed their petitions for not only criminalising marital rape but also setting up trials on those who are convicted of the crimes under the criminal court, instead of the family courts. However, the legal reforms are yet to come. Also, women can seek relief from the court by placing their plea under the Domestic Violence Act, 2005, on charges of physical abuse, mental humiliation and loss of dignity.

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How Chiraya is a small step towards a big change?

The web series ‘Chiraya’ not only highlighted a major yet very little spoken issue with its bold and strong content. It’s the 21st century, yet women in many areas of India are not aware of their bodily rights and of the concept of consent. Enduring forced sex and physical trauma is still a part of the duty of a wife in many households. In such situations, cinema and digital platforms raising their voice is a big welcome step towards increasing awareness on such trivial matters. 

These small steps are considered as a major factor which can pave the path and may bring the attention of the Indian Judicary system and Government of India towards putting marital rape and sexual attacks on wives by their husbands under the law as a crime.

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The web series Chiraya is gaining popularity and appreciation from celebrities and common people and the cast are getting well earned praise for their performances. Many cine critics and media magazines have praised the strong choice of concept and potraying it in the very promising way, without diverting from the track of the story. The web series is available on OTT platform, JioHotstar and has an ensemble star cast of Prassanna Bisht, Divya Dutta, Siddharth Shaw, Sanjay Mishra, Faisal Rashid andTinnu Anand. The series is directed by Shashank Shah, written by Divy Nidhi Sharma and produced by SVF Entertainment. 

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