Are laws gradually gaining a female character?
Feb. 14, 2020 • Samiksha Gupta
We often come across phrases like “the sky is pink”, ” it’s a woman’s world” and other abstract concepts of female power. In most cases, particularly in the modern Indian context, this whole conception of paying a heavier heed to the interests of women is, in fact, a very novel approach towards empowering and strengthening the second gender. The origins of modern-day feminism traces its roots to the centuries old women movements, helmed by visionaries like Jyotiba Phule, Annie Besant, Sarojini Naidu, and has taken a very recent character of radical uprising in the form of the #Metoo Movement, the latter being the threshold of vociferous agitation by activists and commoners alike, against the ill of sexual harassment of women at workplace. We all know about the remarkable Tanushree Datta-Nana Patekar row which garnered immense backing in favour of the actress when the horrendous incident came to light after almost a decade. Yet, whilst stressing on the positive aspect of anything, we shall not err to overlook the grey matter as well.
To give more leverage to my point, I would start off with the most infamous atrocity committed upon the collective womenfolk of India in history – The Nirbhaya Gangrape case. Even though the verdict was clear as a day, yet the ambiguity lay in the public furore vs. legal discretion segment. Putting personal sentiment aside, the judges delivered their verdict impartially and humanely, albeit the unpardonable crimes committed by the perpetrators, however, in our hearts we know what’s wrong, but the law has to be impartial and unmotivated by nature.[1]
Similarly, when we come down to less severity of outcomes in several cases, we might perhaps get a broader picture of things. In a more recent outcome of events, the country witnessed a blatant overuse of “retributive justice” meted out to the men behind the barbaric demise of Priyanka Reddy. The Hyderabad police may have done an unprecedented job by taking out the perpetrators in an unflinchingly unapologetic fashion, yet the absolute moral and legal validity of this move stands in question. The Supreme Court’s verdict over this alleged “illegal” encounter, touted as an act of retaliatory fire by the police provides some crucial findings[2]. My point exactly- if we are to approve such arbitrary acts of poetic justice by the authorities, whose social image is ultimately blackened in the process, and to what extent?
There is lengthy collection of statutes in the Indian Penal Code that extend sufficient protection, and relief to women in cases of any criminal or civil untoward action. Some of them, namely being – Article 354D (stalking and harassment) , 375 (Rape), 326D and 326B (Acid Attacks) , post - marital cruelty (498A) , among others. What’s a striking contrast between these sections and others is the degree of punitive penalty and imprisonment awarded to the convicts, which is severely harsher than other criminal convictions. The allegation for rape, for example, is a pretty serious accusation levied upon the person and reputation of a man itself, let alone any instance of actual false conviction. The victim’s testimony is sufficient in itself to tip the scales of a judicial trial in her favor . Surveys in the year 2013-14 have revealed that “53.2 % of the rape cases filed in the National Capital were found false”[3]. Scrutinizing the nature and scope of laws extending protection to privacy and personal modesty of a person, one may come at the conclusion that they are mostly all women-centric and non-retrospective. Right against harassment and stalking, for example, guaranteed under Section 354 D is actionable to female citizens only, against male actors. Little attention is paid to the plight faced by the male counterparts who are subject to same physical and mental harassment at workplace, schools, colleges, and even homes. According to Roberta Chinsky Matuson “Many people mistakenly believe that harassment is limited to females, ”Also the perpetrators against the victims are using physical force, psychological force or many other emotional coercion tactics. At workplaces, males sometimes are mentally tortured for the sake of their job. If a male needs a job and he is not having any other substitute then he although unwilling to accept sexual advances, have to accept from females or male colleagues. Statistical data has further shown that “25% of women and 13% of men between the ages of 18 to 24 have experienced sexual harassment while online”.[4]
Article 15 of the Indian Constitution explicitly talks about the Right to Equality, regardless of gender. If the legislation, practice, relentlessly stresses upon the issues of women safety and their concerns, at the same time, sidelining the same issues faced by men, wouldn’t it stand in contradiction to its own essence?
We all know that the voice of a female has been emboldened, empowered and equipped with courage to speak up against the discrimination and atrocities she faces, no matter how small that may be. But does anyone stress upon the subject as to whether she holds much credibility to her cause? This discourse has largely been seen by a very dismissive lens, but recent wake of events has accorded a new dimension to this perspective. We have all seen, heard, learnt and assessed in our capacities about the infamous Jasleen Kaur – Sarvjeet Singh row that added ambiguity to the concern of “fake allegations”. The girl who framed allegations on the man, has shown to have no backbone whatsoever in the 3 year duration of the case. While she herself was abroad pursuing “academic commitments”, what she left behind was a toxic mess of social media rants, immense feminist backing in her favour, defamation of the poor accused and a fury of men-shaming procession against Sarvjeet that added to his personal plight. For 3 long years, he had to roam around with tags of absurd and obnoxious aliases – “Delhi Pervert”, “Darinda” and whatnot. Finally, after 4 long years of judicial tussle, the accused was finally acquitted by the Tis Hazari Court in late 2018.[5] The Upshot of this case study remained that such cases of false and malicious allegations, and the subsequent societal support they garner over time eventually, are doing a job far worse than only defaming innocent men, they are also muting the voices of those thousands of victims who, might have actually faced any amount of atrocity.
Conclusion -
My personal remarks would take a jibe at Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill, 2012 for not including men in its provisions. Just because cases of sexual harassment don’t appear from the masculine side, they don’t happen at all. Also, certain sections in the IPC must be amended, such as 354D to give them a balanced representation. Also, cases related to Section 498A should be given adequate minute investigation so that the possibilities of the wife framing frivolous complaints upon the husband and in-laws can be lessened.
Bibliography –
References –
- https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/aSGQSsBGU5UBDtQCXINnRL/Nirbhaya-gangrape-case-Separating-fact-from-emotion.html
- [1]G.S. Mani vs. Union of India WP no. (348/2019)
- [1] http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/2039/Sexual-Harassment-of-Men.html
- https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2019/oct/26/jasleen-kaur-case-sarvjeet-acquitted-after-four-years-netizens-demand-apology-from-kejriwal-arnab-2053322.html
[2] G.S. Mani vs. Union of India WP no. (348/2019)
[4] http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/2039/Sexual-Harassment-of-Men.html
Author-Akshit Gupta, second year law student at Bharti Vidyapeeth, New Law College, Pune.