The world over, the laws have been framed as gender neutral with abuse clauses as the crimes are gender neutral. Why are the men harassed in India? It is the law abiding male citizens (along with their mothers, sisters) who are abused and tortured. Supreme Court has rightfully pointed out that IPC 498a is “Legal Terror”. The data pulled up from the National Crime Records Bureau for the past five years shows the reality of 498a cases.
The conviction rate ranged from 21% to 15% over the last five years. The number of people arrested under 498a kept increasing even after the notice for following CrPC 41A was issued in 2010. This law contradicts the natural principle of justice which states that one is innocent till proven guilty.
The Hindu has carried a six month study of the rape cases in Delhi, which occurred in 2013[1], from the data from the National Crime Records Bureau. 40% of the cases were as a result of consensual relationship and were acquitted. There was only a 23% conviction rate. The huge number of false rape cases led to Delhi being called “Rape Capital”.
There are innumerable false cases resulting in loss of reputation to the men, grief to their parents. What is the point of the acquittal after shaming them by the media trial. Who will restore their dignity?
Genuine victims don’t get the justice due to the misuse by both educated, working women and women goaded by the various women's’ rights groups.. There was so much hue and cry about the Badaun gang rape in UP. CBI has updated that the case was concocted by the girl’s parents and cleared the five men accused of the crime.
The data from the National Crime Records Bureau for the last 5 years also point to the fact that double the married men commit suicide due to these fake cases. These statistics indicate that one husband commits suicide every 8 minutes.
The same holds true in the suicide statistics in the age bracket of 30 to 44 years.
We have a bouquet of gender biased laws (IPC 498a, CrPC 125, Rape, Sexual Harassment against women at workplace, Protection of women from domestic violence act, Dowry Death).
Few changes which can bring about a transformation (as there are no laws safeguarding men or husbands) are as follows:
- The word “woman” should be replaced with person in the laws.
- The word “wife” should be replaced with spouse in the laws.
- CrPC 41A needs to be strictly followed.
- The name of the accused in the rape case should be revealed only after getting a guilty verdict.
- False filers should be punished stringently as valuable time of the courts is lost which can also go a long way in reducing the judicial pendency.
[1] http://www.thehindu.com/data/the-many-shades-of-rape-cases-in-delhi/article6261042.ece
