Need for Safeguarding Men’s Rights in India

What is that one thing which is most ignored yet most needed?

What rights men do have in India? How many legal provisions you actually see when it comes to Men’s Rights in India? 

You will be completely blank and you will hardly find any law which safeguards a male against different kind of exploitations. So if you were excited to find some here while the headline catches you, there is no proper legislation that entitles a man with special rights in India for men but there are some landmark judgments favoring wrongly accused men. So this strengthens the need for Safeguarding Men's Rights in India.  

False rape cases, false 498Acases, false sexual harassment charges, and many more are there in the list which raises concern for male gender rights and security. Indian legal system is doing great to protect the women against any kind of cruelty and exploitation. But when it comes to men, there is no shield to protect them. Continuous decreasing rate of convictions and increasing acquittals among all reported rape cases, higher suicidal rate of a married man in comparison to women, and many other factors are urging for some useful amendments in the legal system to introduce gender-neutral laws to protect Indian men’s rights.

Why It is Necessary to Strengthen Indian Men's Rights with Gender Neutral Laws?

The stats showing fake cases (cruelty, sexual assault, exploitation, rape, 498A, etc) against man is clearly depicting the misuse of women’s rights in India. As per Wikipedia, the suicidal rate of married men was 59744 and 27064 suicides were of married women in 2014. Besides, that reported rape cases were increased from 16,075-24,923 during 2001-2012 among which the conviction rate fell down to 24.2% from 40.8%.

Male Harassment Cases in India

Which is The Most Misused Law in India? Can a man file domestic violence case in India?

When the term “domestic violence” struck our mind, we never imagine a male in that situation. But the suicidal stats and fake complaints against man raises questions over the women’s rights in India and various laws favoring them. This is endangering the dignity of the male gender.

Due to female-friendly laws in India, the majority of the male harassment cases in India involving cruelty, domestic violence, sexual assault, harassment against men remain unreported.  

We can hardly find any male harassment law in India. Men suffering from domestic violence often try to avoid complaining either due to male ego or more strict laws favoring women. The mental agonies and ignominies encountered during false accusations led to the suicides. This is the issue that needs to be brought to the forefront. It is mandatory to empower and protect the female gender but simultaneously misuse of legal rights by women in India demands the equal protection of men too.

IPC Section 498A is the most misused law and some of the females use it as a legal weapon instead of taking it as a legal remedy and shield to protect them from cruelty. This is the major anti-dowry law but the way it is being misused, it is getting some other tag i.e. “legal terrorism” which it is not aimed to be termed as. This is being misused as a means to take revenge and extort money. Every year many fake 498A complaints are registered in India, leading to physical and mental agonies for the husband and for his relatives as well. In such scenarios, if one is not assisted by a right family lawyer, chances of suffering are high even after being innocent. So this obviously demands gender-neutral laws.

Working Bodies towards Empowering Indian Men - Men's Rights Organizations in India

There are various men’s protection cell and men’s rights activists working to bring some evolution. Among which Men’s Rights Movement in India is the biggest one comprising of various organizations working towards establishing new gender rules and eliminating the gender-biased rules. A #mentoo movement has also focused on the same idea.

Maintenance for Husband in India

Women are given more importance when it comes to divorce. There are very less to no divorce rights for men in India. With the passage of time, the sourness in the marital bond is on an increase with increasing divorce cases in India. The laws which are formulated to protect and empower the women are badly misused by them to extort money. There are various landmark judgments favoring men’s rights in India where the women are penalized with only fine. But strict laws need to be there to avoid the misuse of women’s rights. The legal rights of the husband in India have the provision of maintenance for the husband as well. But this provision is only entitled to marriages under the Hindu MarriageAct’s Sections 24. A husband can seek maintenance only when he is unemployed or unable to maintain himself.

Constitution Role in Introducing Gender Neutral Laws in India

Supreme law of India i.e. constitution sees every citizen equally and therefore while urging for some amendments, its role can also be considered. It signifies the fundamental political code, procedures, structure, powers, and duties of government institutions. On the same time, it also demarcates fundamental rights, directive principles, and responsibilities of the citizens. There are three articles in the Indian Constitution which support the gender-neutral laws in India. These includes

Article 14 – Equality before the law and protection of the laws.

Article 15 – Prohibition of discrimination against any citizen on the basis of religion, race, caste, place of birth, or any of them.

Article  21 – No person shall be deprived of his life and personal liberty. 

Initiative to Protect Indian Men against Sexual Assault, Exploitation, and Harassment

But recently in 2019, a senior lawyer and Rajya Sabha MP KTS Tulsi had introduced a private member bill seeking to make Indian laws gender-neutral by making few amendments in Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, and Indian Evidence Act.

The bill is proposed to protect women, men, and transgender with proposing amendments in IPC, CrPC, and IEA for replacing the terms “any man” and “any woman” with “any person”. Besides Section 375 of IPC which deals with sexual assault cases, the bill proposes to insert Section 375A in IPC stating,

“If any person, intentionally touches the genitals, anus, or breast of the person or makes the person touch the vagina, penis, anus, or breast of that person or any other person, without the other person’s consent, or uses, words, acts, or gestures towards another person which create an unwelcome actionable threat of sexual nature or results in any unwelcome advance” will be sentenced rigorous imprisonment which may extend up to three years, fine, or both. The bill seeks various amendments in the rape laws in context to all the genders.

No doubt, long time back, the Indian patriarchal society and increasing crime against women was a major reason to protect and empower the women. But just take a moment to bring your attention to the statistics of crime against man in India or false complaints against Indian man by women misusing laws, this is quite clear that the legal system really needs some change.

Conclusion

“Feminism – A word that is used by a lot of women and misunderstood by a lot of men.

Feminist – A woman who support equality of men and women and is not necessarily lesbian, despite supporting the rights of the third gender and gay community.”

There is a dire need for introducing some gender-neutral laws that can safeguard the interest and rights of every gender. Misuse of 498A cases and other laws favoring women's rights is increasing day by day. So to enrich the legal system with some valuable