Abstract
Justice is a complex concept having multiple interpretations. But there are some characteristics which often revolve around the concept of justice. One such aspect that underlines justice is fairness and equality. People seek justice when they feel biasness, inequality and any unfair practices. When an inequality is made for the purpose of safeguard of any weaker section, it is considered as reasonable. Our constitution itself provides some reasonable equality in favor of women and children. But does this ‘reasonable inequality’ mean misuse of such laws? Does that mean injustice towards men too? Justice system is a boon to humanity. But should this boon be available only to a particular gender? Being born into a particular gender be assumed as an obvious crime or a surety of being held as a perpetrator? Is being born as a male means not getting justice or even equal opportunity to be heard? This research paper attempts to answer these questions and recognize such laws which are biased towards women, resulting in injustice towards their counterparts, i.e, men. The scholar attempts to highlights loop holes of some women centric laws and the ambit of their misuse. This paper also shows why transforming women centric laws to gender neutral laws is a need of an hour.
Keywords
Women centric laws, gender biased laws, misuse of women centric laws, injustice to men, transformation in law
Introduction
Patriarchy is a social structure where men typically hold authority and responsibilities, and women are considered as ‘the weaker section’. This was the system which was prevalent in older India. It is still present in our society, not exactly the way it used to be or not at that extent but in some or the other way till certain extent. This social system led the position and status of women lowered and of no substance in the society. They were kept deprived of their rights, not just fundamental ones, but also natural rights such as right to live, through customs like sati pratha.
The situation instead of getting better by the passing times, get worsened. They were made prone to inhumane conditions, physically and mentally. They were exposed to harsh and a completely opposite side of society, which never matched with India’s belief – ‘women are devis and are venerable’ In order to upbring them and bring them back to their respectable position, need of some laws and provisions, which will protect the interests and dignity of women was felt. To give them equal status, equal opportunity and equal protection certain reservations were given to them so that they can move outside their home, breaking the patriarchal rules and have their own life. They were also provided with some special provision which safeguards them against physical atrocities like rape, molestation, dowry death as well as mental atrocities such as mental abuse. But soon, this ‘equality’ got
interpreted as ‘priority’ and ‘an opportunity’ by some women. They made it a tool of taking revenge with any men, to use the law as per their wish against men.
The research paper gives a reflection of misuse of such laws. It also showcases how this affects the rights and dignity of males. It also suggests some ways by which such a serious problem can be resolved.
Research methodology
The paper is of descriptive nature and the research is based on secondary sources for the deep analysis of women centric laws of India. Secondary sources include online articles and websites.
Review of literature
Articles published on i Pleaders such as on the topics of punishment for rape in India by Diksha Paliwal and Hindu adoption and maintenance act by Sushant Biswakarma provided a lot of insightful data which was helpful for the purpose of this research paper.
Voice for men India, played a crucial role in showcasing some of very important case laws. These case laws were in compliance with the main motive of this research paper, that is, lack of gender- neutral laws, and why such laws are a need of the hour.
SSC Online provided with in depth knowledge about different laws and provisions that have been discussed further in this research paper. It provided all the clauses and sub clauses of cases, the jurisdictions, the exception and everything.
Moreover an [1] online video helped summarizing all the women centric laws, their provisions as well as the loopholes in the act. It also showed in detail possibility of misuse of all the women centric laws and various cases and illustration to prove those possibility.
What are women Centric Laws
BNS, earlier recognized as IPC, has some laws which were made for the protection and betterment of women, since the situation of women in the society was harsh. Such laws were formulated for the protection of women. They deal with unique forms of discrimination and vulnerability faced by women. The main aim of women centric laws is to empower women and provide them with equal rights and opportunity as of men. One of a salient feature of these laws is that women are considered as the only possible victims of crimes covered under these laws, and the perpetrator being the male.
Problems with such women centric laws
Is it always true that only women are victims of such crimes? Are men always the perpetrator? Can’t the situation be reversed? Can’t males too be victims? Men are assumed to be the perpetrator and women as victims. Should this mere assumption be the ground for any laws or provisions to be made? This ‘unreasonable assumption’ fails the very purpose of justice for one of a major sector of the society, a particular gender, males.
Now not only the females, but males too are being victims of such heinous crimes. But what is unfortunate is, that men do not have any provision under which they can seek justice. There
are a lot of loopholes in the laws and provisions made for protection and betterment of women, which completely ignores the crimes committed against men. These laws completely eliminate the possibility of such crimes happening against men. But this is a mere assumption These loopholes have now been ‘a tool’ or ‘a medium’ for some women to use against men. Below are some women centric laws along with its loopholes, which are misused by females.
RAPE (SECTION 375)
This offence is defined under section 375 of IPC as [2] “A man is said to have committed the offence of rape, if he penetrates his penis or inserts any object or a part of his body (except his penis) or any man manipulates in any manner any part of women’s body to cause such penetration in the women’s vagina, anus or urethra or forces a women to do so with him or any other men or applies or forces his mouth in the vagina, anus or urethra or forces a women to so with him or any other men”. Offence of rape is also assumed to be committed if a man, gets into a sexual intercourse, having the consent of the woman, but the consent being given under the belief that he will marry her in the future, and later does not marry.
GANG RAPE (SECTION376D)
The abovementioned section provides for the punishment for the offence of gang rape. In allocation of the punishment, it defines gang rape as ‘rape committed against any women by one or more than one person constituting a group or acting in furtherance of a common intention’
- Loophole of these sections:
Both of the mentioned provisions clearly consider women to be the only victims, as can be seen through the highlighted words. Section 375 not only assumes only women to be the victim of rape, but also men to be the offender. But what if any man faces such offence of rape or gang rape? Under which provision can they seek justice? Is the mere assumption that men are superior and they do not need any protection suffice the injustice that happens against a man?
The offence of rape also includes a condition that if a man has a sextual intercourse after promising the woman to marry her, but later do not do so, it comes under rape. But what if the promise was genuine but the relation didn’t work out for some genuine reason? It also doesn’t provide sufficient grounds to prove that there was a promise of marriage.
Gang rape also provide protection to only women, but what if the same happens with a man?
[3] A similar situation happened in Jalandhar in November,2022, where a man was allegedly gang raped by 4 young girls after being kidnapped and drugged.
Because of a clear recognition of men being the only perpetrator of rape, it is very easy for women to misuse the law and accuse any man of rape. [4] As per the reports of National Crime Record Bureau, 74% of the total rape cases filled in India, are fake!
MOLESTATION (SECTION 354B)
It talks about assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe. [5]It states that if any man who assaults or uses criminal force to any woman or abets such act with the intention of disrobing or compelling her to be naked, shall be punished.
- Loophole:
This provision also accepts men to be the only abettor and protects only the interest of women. There is no safeguard for men to file their complain if they feel molestation. What if a women molest a man or a minor? Can they be convicted? The answer is NO! And all this is because of gender biased laws. This again leads to a large number of fake cases being filed.
As per National Crime Record Bureau, 30,000 molestation cases were registered during 2013-2014, out of which 75% cases were fake. This not only affects men’s reputation, but also men’s mental health. As per men’s mental health magazine reports 3500 men commit suicide every year in India due to false molestation cases.
PREVENTION OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT OF WOMEN AT WORKPLACE (PROTECTION, PROHIBITION AND REDRESSAL) Act,2013 (POSH)
This law was enacted after the landmark case of Vishakha v/s State of Rajasthan and others. This law established protection for women at the workplace. It provides that if an aggrieved woman has been subjected to any act of sexual harassment, she can seek justice under the POSH Act, 2013.
- Loophole:
As in the aforementioned laws, in this act too, the possibility of men to have been faced sexual harassment at their workplace have been completely eliminated. There is no provision if such things happened with the. But the main question again is that is it true that men do not face such situations? What if any woman does this with any man or any other woman? Will women be held liable?
[6] In a survey done for Viacom 18 in 2013 it was founded that 43% of male corporate professionals have faced sexual harassment at workplace. A survey was conducted by Economics times in 2010, taking random 527 males. As per the report of this survey, 51% out of the 527 males, have faced sexual harassment at their workplace.
HINDU ADOPTION AND MAINTENANCE ACT (SECTION 18)
This section deals with the maintenance that a husband is obliged to give to his wife after they are separated. [7] Maintenance has been defined under section 3(b) as something that can provide for food, shelter, clothing, educational and medical expenses. The act states that a Hindu wife will be entitled to maintenance if her husband has deserted his wife by abandoning her or the wife has been subjected to cruelty during her marriage or the husband has some incurable disease or he is having another wife or mistress and lives with her.
- Loopholes:
This act talks about maintenance, but the amount or extent of maintenance that is to be provided is vague. It has been left on the discretion of the court. But still it makes husband obliged to do so even for some reason he is unable to have any source of income. What if a husband leaves his wife for a job and moves out, consent being taken, and for a sake of money, the wife filles an application for maintenance and says he didn’t take her consent. Is
there any provision to proof that the consent was missing or it was given? These loopholes make this act prone to misuse and having a number of fake cases being registered.
[8] The case of shiv Kumar – Shiv Kumar is a 43 years old newspaper seller, but once he was hit by a bus which led to serious head injuries and making him bedridden for almost a year. During this phase he lost all his source of earning. Time got worse, and he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He spent a lot of money in the treatment but later it was found that it was TB. The treatments for cancer have made his body weak and left his right side completely paralyzed confining him to wheelchair permanently.
He had not a single source of income. He was still asked to pay maintenance to his wife. He was also sent to Tihar jail multiple times due to failure to pay the maintenance. At last, he had to pay Rs. 5 lakhs by crowdfunding to meet the maintenance of his wife.
Are men needed to even beg in order to comply with the maintenance of their wife?
CRUELTY BY HUSBAND (SECTION 498A)
The act was passed in 1983 to punish for the offence of dowry and cruelty to married women by her husband or his relatives. The term cruelty includes both physical and mental cruelty.
Cruelty means
[9] “(a) any willful conduct which is of such a nature as is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to life, limb or health (whether mental or physical) of the woman; or
(b) harassment of the woman where such harassment is with a view to coercing her or any person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to her to meet such demand”
Loopholes:
As other women centric laws, this section also eliminates the possibility of men to be victim of cruelty by his wife. It is an absolute gender biased law. Since it assumes the husband or his relatives to be the only offender, this section has been known as one of the most abused sections of IPC. In 2005, The Supreme court of India also compared this section as ‘legal terrorism’. Also, this provision only covers the married woman, which mean that if a woman is in a live-in relationship and faces such cruelty by her partner, she cannot have any recourse under this provision.
There is no such definition of cruelty that have been provided. So, if mere verbal abuse is considered as cruelty by the wife, she can sue her husband or his relatives. But is it justified? How can the husband prove the absence of verbal abuse? How can the authentication of a complain filled by the women on grounds of verbal abuse be verified?
PROTECTION OF WOMEN FROM DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACT, 2005
The definition of domestic violence has been given I section 3 of the given act. It defines it as
[10] “Any act, omission or commission or conduct of the respondent shall constitute domestic violence in case it—
- harms or injures or endangers the health, safety, life, limb or well-being, whether mental or physical, of the aggrieved person or tends to do so and includes causing physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal and emotional abuse and economic abuse; or
- harasses, harms, injures or endangers the aggrieved person with a view to coerce her or any other person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any dowry or other property or valuable security; or
- has the effect of threatening the aggrieved person or any person related to her by any conduct mentioned in clause (a) or clause (b); or
- otherwise injures or causes harm, whether physical or mental, to the aggrieved person.”
The aggrieved person has been defined in sec.2(a) as any women who has been in a domestic relationship with the respondent, and have been subjected to any act of domestic violence by the respondent, respondent being the husband or his relatives.
- Loopholes:
Is there any recourse for men if they are subjected to any act of domestic violence? Can they lodge similar complains? The act is primarily concerned about protection of women from domestic violence. It does not provide any safeguards for men who may also be the victims. This act, in its ambit, also includes verbal abuse. But what if a woman filles a false case against her husband/partner under the name of ‘verbal abuse’? The act does not provide any definite scope of verbal abuse. Nor does it provide any safeguard in order to prove the absence of verbal abuse.
Domestic violence also includes economic abuse, which does not clearly explain in which condition or circumstances a husband cannot let the household to be disposed off against the will of his wife. So, if a man and his wife own a property jointly, and the wife wishes to sell the property but the husband do not want so, then in this case wife can book her husband under economic abuse. This again make the act titled to be misused by the wife or her relatives for her own benefit.
False accusations often lead to the old parents of accused man to be arrested. It impacts their mental health and reputation in the society.
DOWRY PROHIBITION ACT, 1961
This act provides safeguards to married women or bride-to-be or her family, in case they are or have been subjected to any harassment to fulfill the demand/(s) of her husband or the bridegroom or his family. This protection extends even after marriage. After marriage if the husband or his family coerces or harasses a woman for dowry, they can be booked under this section.
Dowry means any property or valuable securities or assets, that have been decided as a condition for marriage.
- Loopholes:
This act too can be misused against men by women as a way of extortion. [11] As per the NCRB report 2319, every 6 minutes a person is accused of a false case of dowry in India. Not only the husband, but the in-law of the woman also gets arrested because of this false accusation. 26,307 mothers-in-law were arrested because of false accusation of dowry.
Experiencing all these in old age leaves them just with humiliation and mental trauma.
[11] Nisha Sharma false dowry case, 2003: Nisha Sharma of Noida accused her groom-to-be and his family of demanding dowry of Rs. 12 lakhs and a car, and backed off from the marriage. The accusation was followed by the arrest of her groom, Munish and his 75 years old mother. It was later found out that the idea of backing from marriage was pre planned as Nisha wanted to marry someone else, and the accusation of dowry was false.
VOYEURISM
Voyeurism means gaining sexual pleasure by secretly watching someone being naked or disrobing, or being involved in any sexual activity, or any activity which is being done in an assumption of being alone.
Section 354C of IPC defines voyeurism as [12] “any man who watches, or captures the image of a woman engaging in a private act in circumstances where she would usually have the expectation of not being observed either by the perpetrator or by any other person at the behest of the perpetrator or disseminates such image1 shall be punished”
This law ensures protection of only women, and held the perpetrator to be the man.
- Loopholes:
Again, the same question arises, what if a man is subjected to voyeurism? Can he seek justice under this law? What if a woman does this? Will she be convicted?
WhatsApp scam calls are a leading example of voyeurism. In this scam some women video calls random men, makes them stripe off their clothes and records their videos and pictures. These video and pictures are further used by those women to blackmail men and extort money as per their demand.
Suggestion & conclusion
Centuries ago, crimes, inhumane condition and harsh realities of society and injustice towards women were observed in India. This observation led to establishment of a varied range of laws and provisions protecting and safeguarding the interests of women. men used to be in a dominating position and hence it was assumed that they don’t need any legal framework for their protection. But with time, society also changes, and with society, laws are also needed to be changed. Before 2000, people were not aware about cybercrimes, but with the increasing trend of cybercrimes, need for a legal regulation was felt, and hence, IT Act,2000 was established.
In the similar manner, with the change in society, and now men too being the victims of the crimes, there is a need to reform our laws. We need to have more gender- neutral laws, instead of having centuries old women centric laws.
Current and highlighting case of Atul Subhash has once again, sparked the need of laws to be reformed. In this case, Atul committed suicide, after making 80 minutes long video and writing a 40 pages long suicide note, alleging his wife of financial exploitation, mental harassment, accusing him of false domestic violence and dowry cases.
This shows a very high possibility of misuse of such laws which were framed for the protection of women. But the safeguard to women in no way should mean exploitation and injustice towards innocent men. Some steps can be taken in order to make these law gender- neutral. Legal service India journal suggests some solutions such as replacing the word s man/men to person, wife / husband to spouse. With more and more awareness about men’s right, understanding the evolving nature of society, crimes and following the suggested solutions, the number of false accusations on men, and the injustice they face because of some loopholes can be reduced to a very large extent.
- https://youtu.be/QrHmqo1bvU4?si=KK3UiW8nTzYPDXL8
- Diksha Paliwal, Punishment for rape in India, i Pleaders, (20th Dec.2024)
- Times now news, https://www.timesnownews.com/crime/jalandhar-man-alleges-he-was- kidnapped-gang-raped-by-four-girls-in-their-20s-article-95732303 (17th December,2024)
- Azhar Ahmed khan, case study on false rape cases in India, The Amikus Qriae, 6 February 2024, https://theamikusqriae.com/case-study-on-false-rape-allegation-in-india/#_ftn4
- Indian kanoon, https://indiankanoon.org/doc/166765731/ , (17th December.2024)
- Ungender, https://www.ungender.in/why-india-inc-needs-to-protect-men-against-sexual- harassment-at-workplaces-in-india-case-for-gender-neutral- policies/#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20survey%2C%2051,to%20sexual%20advances
%20by%20colleagues ,(20th December.2024)
- Sushant Biswakarma, Hindu adaptation and maintenance act, 1956, i Pleaders, (20th Dec. 2024), https://blog.ipleaders.in/hindu-adoption-maintenance
- Voice for men India, https://voiceformenindia.com/shiv-kumar-alimony-crowdfund-milaap
, (20th Dec.2024)
- SSC Online, https://voiceformenindia.com/ncrb-report-2020-crimes-against-women-cases- registered-v-s-false-conviction-vs-acquittal/ (20th Dec.2024)
- SSC Online, https://www.scconline.com/blog/post/2020/07/27/law-on-domestic-violence- protection-of-women-from-domestic-violence-act-2005/ , (20th Dec.2024)
- Vaastav Foundation, https://vaastav.org/2020/10/decoding-the-ncrb-data-2019/ (20th Dec.2024)
- Voice for men India, https://voiceformenindia.com/nisha-sharma-false-dowry-case-after- 9-years-court-observed-her-decision-to-call-off-wedding-was-pre-planned/ , (20th Dec.2024)
- Lawyersclubindia, https://www.lawyersclubindia.com/forum/voyeurism-211447.asp
,(20th Dec.2024)
Author Anubhuti
Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed to be University New Law College, Pune