Breaking Gender Norms: A Critical Study Of Legal Responses To Sexual Offences Against Men In India
- IJLLR Journal
- 5 minutes ago
- 1 min read
Vedica Tiwari, University Institute of Legal Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh
ABSTRACT
India’s rape laws are built on a dangerous presumption that women can only be victims and men can only be perpetrators. This paper, Beyond Gender Norms: A Critical Study of Legal Responses to Sexual Offences Against Men in India, tears apart this regressive narrative, by exposing the legal vacuum and societal blindness toward male survivors of sexual violence. While Article 14 of the Indian Constitution promises equality, Indian criminal law delivers selective justice by excluding men and transgenders from the very definition of a rape victim. The 2023 repeal of Section 377 IPC under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita didn’t just remove a law, it erased the only legal recognition that male victims had, leaving them legally invisible. This research draws from survivor accounts, psychological studies, and legal comparisons with nations like the UK, Canada, South Africa, and the Philippines, all of which have openly embraced gender-neutral rape laws. The paper exposes how societal expectations of masculinity like "men don’t cry," "men can’t be victims", not only silences survivors but also shields the perpetrators. It calls out the hypocrisy of a legal system that protects boys under 18 but abandons them the moment they become adults. Through evidence, case studies, and global models, this paper demands an urgent reform: a criminal justice system that recognizes all survivors, regardless of gender. Until then, Indian law remains complicit in the silencing of countless men who were raped and never allowed to speak.
Keywords: Sexual abuse, Male rape survivors, gender-neutral laws, Section 377, legal invisibility
