Outraging The Modesty Of Men

Priyanshu Tejaswi, Sagar Choudhary & Sunidhi Pandey

ABSTRACT

It is expedient to mention that section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860 which talks about outraging the modesty of a woman and section 375 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860 which talks about rape committed to a woman. And recently, the criminal laws got amended and the sections 354 and 375 of IPC were replaced by sections 73 and 63 of the new Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 respectively. But what our once again failed neither to discuss or nor to addressed is that a man can also be a victim of such crime. The previous act i.e., the IPC contained section 377 for unnatural offences which dealt with any sexual offences that was committed against the laws of nature which included two adults of same sex having intercourse forcefully or any person committing an act of sexual intercourse on any animal. But the present rape laws as mentioned in the new criminal law has no provision for it instead, they have added a different term mentioned as ‘unnatural lust.’

This paper will discuss how men can also be victim of such offences and where there, if any, any relief for them. Through this paper the authors in no way means to object upon the fact that the sexual offences in India against women is less heinous crime rather the authors wish to shed light on the fact that even men, although not in a very large number, but still, they are victims to such crime. The paper has been divided mainly into three sections where the first section will give us the basic introduction or idea about this crime. Moving on the second section will discuss as to what is outraging the modesty of a man and in the final section the paper will be concluded.

Keywords: Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, Indian Penal Code, 1860, Modesty, POCSO Act, 2012, Gender Neutral Laws, Sexual Offences, Unnatural Lust, Unnatural Offences