Sumit Kumar Sakthi, LL.M. Batch (2023-24), Dharmashastra National Law University, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh
ABSTRACT
The Laws on sexual offenses in India has been historically focused on protecting women, which is right as women were more prone to become a victim of sexual assault and it still continues but does that mean just because the number of victims in a particular crime is less, they don’t have the right to seek justice. One area in which Indian penal laws are quiet is the rape of an adult male, hiding the fact that males can also become victims of rape. The absence of explicit legal provisions recognizing male rape spreads harmful stereotypes and denies survivors equality before law they were so guaranteed by the Indian Constitution. This Paper tries to show that rape of adult male exists in the society and Indian law has failed to recognise it. Furthermore, this paper also answers two common arguments which exists against making the rape law gender neutral.
Keywords: Rape, male rape, sexual assault, gender neutral, masculinity
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