The Missing Provision: Sexual Violence Against Men After The Deletion Of Section 377 From The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita
Yashonidhi Beniwal, OP Jindal Global University
ABSTRACT
The enactment of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), which replaced the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) with effect from 1 July 2024, has produced an acute and largely unremarked legislative lacuna: the complete disappearance of any criminal provision protecting adult male and transgender victims of sexual violence. Section 377 IPC, despite its colonial origins and its misuse to persecute consensual same-sex conduct, had after Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India (2018) served a critical protective function by criminalising non-consensual carnal intercourse against persons of any gender. The BNS jettisons that provision without replacement. Its rape provision (Section 63) is explicitly gendered offender must be male, victim must be female and the chapter containing sexual offences is titled 'Offences Against Women and Children', textually foreclosing any favourable judicial interpretation. This paper traces the legislative history of Section 377, analyses the constitutional and human-rights obligations that demanded its protective aspects be preserved, examines the judicial and parliamentary response to the omission, and proposes a model gender-neutral provision for Parliamentary enactment.
Keywords: Section 377 IPC | Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita | Male Sexual Violence | Gender-Neutral Rape Law | Navtej Singh Johar | Legal Lacuna | LGBTQ+ Rights | Indian Criminal Law
