When Naila married at 22, she believed her life was a beginning chapter of mutual respect and companionship. Instead, she spent 9 years enduring what no one around her would acknowledge or name: marital rape. “It was not just physical pain,” she recalls. “It was the silence. The feeling that I had no right to say no. That this was simply my fate as her wife.”
Across Pakistan, countless women like Naila endure sexual violence at the hands of their husbands, violence that takes place behind closed doors and is masked by cultural expectations, social silence, and a legal system reluctant to intervene. The term marital rape is still absent from everyday conversations, misunderstood by many, and denied by most.
In 2007, Pakistan amended its rape law and remove the clause that exempted husbands from prosecution. Legally, this meant that non-consensual sex within marriage could now be treated as a crime. Yet, nearly two decades later, formal cases of my term main rape remain virtually nonexistent. “The clause ‘other than his wife’ was removed from the law. “But the law has not been implemented. We still haven’t seen cases properly reported or prosecuted.
Cultural conditioning plays a central role in this silence. Interviews conducted with married women from varying socio-economic backgrounds revealed a painful pattern: most had never heard the marital rape, and even those who had struggled to see their experiences as violations. “Even when I feel sick or emotionally drained, I know I can’t say no, says Farah, a 35-year-old mother of three. “I was raised to believe this is part of marriage. So I stay quiet.”
Sana, a 38-year-old woman from Rawalpindi, shared how emotional coercion played out in his long-distance marriage. “My husband works in Dubai and expects everything to be perfect when he returns. If I don’t respond the way he wants, he accuses me of infidelity. I don’t want to argue, so I give in, even when I feel nothing.”
These testimonies speak volumes about how deeply normalized non-consensual intimacy is within Pakistani marriages. For many women, saying “no” is not just discouraged, it feels unthinkable.
In February 2024, a session court in Karachi delivered a rare verdict, convicting a man for raping his wife and sentencing him to three years in prison. The decision, based on the 2021 amendment to section 375 of the Pakistan Penal Code, marked the first judicial acknowledgment that marriage does not erase the need for consent. Yet this landmark case remains an exception. The vast majority of marital rape cases remain reported, unacknowledged, and unaddressed.
Between 2017 and 2023, more than 22,000 rape cases were reported in Pakistan, with a conviction rate of just 0.3%, according to the NGO War against Rape. Marital rape is rarely including included in these figures, despite being pervasive, because it remains hidden behind cultural taboos, social pressure and legal ambiguity.
The barriers to justice are immense. Many women fear social shame, economic insecurity, or retaliation from their husbands or in-laws. Others believe they will not be taken seriously by the police or courts. “How do you prove what happens in a bedroom? Because, how do you prove what no one else even thinks is a crime?”
The heart of the problem lies in how Pakistani society defines marriage. Consent is rarely viewed as relevant between husband and wife. Once a woman is married, she is expected to be perpetually available. This erasure of agency leaves no space for her emotional, physical, or psychological autonomy.
Even when women privately admit to discomfort or trauma, they often publicly deny any issues in their marriage. The pressure to maintain the appearance of a stable, happy relationship keeps many silent. “We don’t talk about these things, not even with our own family, Farah admits.”
True justice will remain elusive until this silence is broken, not just in courts, but in homes, schools, media, and everyday conversations. Psychologists and rights advocates stress the need for national awareness campaigns, legal training for police, and comprehensive education on bodily autonomy or consent.
Until Pakistan is ready to confront the uncomfortable truth that raped and does happen within marriage, women like Naila will continue to suffer behind closed doors. And the violence will – remain unspoken, punished, and unresolved.
– MARIA MANSAB