"This injustice is happening within our homes"
Web series Chiraiya is confronting marital rape, a subject that India has refused to criminalise.
The series premiered on JioHotstar in March 2026. Since its release, it has attracted millions of viewers and emerged as one of the platform’s most-watched Hindi shows in recent months.
Critics have praised the series for confronting a deeply entrenched social taboo.
It has ignited widespread conversations online about consent and misogyny. However, it has also faced backlash, with some commentators branding it “anti-men” and “an attempt to undermine the sanctity of marriage”.
Scriptwriter Divy Nidhi Sharma says the narrative centres on two women: Kamlesh and Pooja.
Kamlesh (Divya Dutta) is a middle-aged homemaker who firmly believes “women should be interested in cooking and housework”.
In contrast, Pooja (Prasanna Bish) is educated, socially aware and vocal about gender equality and dignity.
Their lives intersect when Pooja marries Arun, Kamlesh’s brother-in-law, whom she raised as her own son. Viewed as the ideal partner, Arun quickly shatters Pooja’s dreams when he rapes her on their wedding night.
When confronted, Arun justifies his actions by claiming he has “just taken what’s mine”.
“Why do you keep repeating that I raped you?” he says, adding that marital rape is not a crime in India and there is no law to deal with it.
Dutta told the BBC: “Marital rape is very difficult to talk about.
“Every woman who goes through it thinks it’s just her story. She thinks if she speaks about it, there will be social stigma, the harmony of the house will be disrupted.”
In the series, when a bruised and traumatised Pooja reveals her ordeal, she is urged to remain silent. Even her mother warns that speaking out would bring shame upon the family.
Initially, Kamlesh believes consent is implicit within marriage, according to Dutta. However, her perspective evolves as the story unfolds.
She is forced to choose between her “comfort zone” or “to hold the hand of a woman she’s not really fond of”.
Chiraiya‘s themes reflect a grim reality.
According to Indian government data, 6.1% of ever-married women have experienced sexual violence.
Despite sustained campaigning by activists, India remains among roughly three dozen countries, alongside Pakistan, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, where marital rape is not criminalised.
In recent years, activists have filed multiple petitions in the Supreme Court seeking legal reform. However, the government, religious organisations and men’s rights groups have opposed amendments to the Colonial-era law.
The legislation currently exempts a man from prosecution for forced sex with his wife if she is not a minor.
Public outrage intensified in 2025 when a man convicted of raping his wife, who died within hours of the alleged assault, was acquitted on appeal because India does not legally recognise marital rape.
Reflecting on her motivation, Sharma said: “This injustice is happening within our homes, in our neighbourhoods.
“What I find most troubling is that there’s no legal or social recourse. So, as a writer, I felt I should do my bit about it.”
Adapted from the Bengali series Sampoorna, Chiraiya has been reimagined for Northern India, a region widely regarded as more patriarchal.
Sharma continued: “The protagonist of Sampoorna is a feminist
“Our protagonist Kamlesh is a woman who doesn’t even know the spelling of misogyny; she’s so steeped in patriarchal conditioning that her moral compass has gone haywire.
“But in the end, she rises to fight what’s wrong.”
Director Shashant Shah emphasises that Kamlesh was designed to resonate with audiences across India:
“With Kamlesh, we wanted to present a woman that millions of women in India can relate to.”
“She is a person who has faith in the family system. But slowly you see the transformation, as her world slowly crumbles, she realises it’s all a façade, a farce where people are suffering within the family.”
Shah insists the series was intended to spark dialogue rather than challenge institutions directly.
“The intention behind making Chiraiya was not to question the government or laws, we wanted to raise this question to the society – how do you look at it? We wanted to make people aware”.
He adds that while Pooja’s experiences are fictional, they mirror lived realities.
Despite tackling sensitive issues, the creators were careful not to depict men as caricatures.
Shah said: “They are not monsters; they are just regular people we encounter in our daily lives.
Patriarchy is so deeply entrenched that most people are not even aware they are being misogynistic.”
The response, according to Dutta, has been overwhelming:
“I’ve been getting midnight messages and calls and personal notes on Instagram and Twitter. Everyone’s watching it.
“Veteran actors are calling me to say thank you for doing this. Someone sent me a saree with a heartfelt note, somebody’s sent a poem they’ve written. I think it really stirred something within everyone.”
However, there has been criticism, with Sharma saying some people are “getting triggered” by it.
He added: “But our aim was to just start a conversation. We are artists, we can’t make laws, we can’t curb crimes, we can’t change society rapidly, but we can use art to make a taboo topic mainstream.”
Dutta believes stories like Chiraiya can inspire meaningful change:
“I think this will make a difference in more ways than one because it is telling us where we are going wrong.
“And rather than just putting the onus on the outside, for someone else to do something for us, this show just emphasises that let’s start from home first.
“And that is a first step, but it is a very strong step.”
Watch the Trailer
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