The Narendra Modi government’s reactionary stand that criminalising marital rape would “destabilise the institution of marriage” and could become an easy tool to “harass husbands” in RIT Foundation vs Union of India, which is pending before the Delhi high court, is utterly disappointing. The government seems to have found some bizarre correlation between saving the institution of marriage and not criminalising marital rape. It is difficult to understand how rape of a woman by her husband is any less brutal than triple talaq or polygamy, which the present government seems to have been much concerned about. Such ignominious behaviour of the Centre echoes our innate societal misogyny, which over the years has led to further subjugation of women.