Gender Inequality in Rape Laws

Rashi Sharma
Amity University, Noida, India

Volume III, Issue III, 2020

While the concept of rape has been expanded to include non-penile-vaginal penetration activities under the Indian Penal Code, it is also gendered based on a fixed characterisation of the victim-perpetrator system on the grounds of the sex. Having emphasized that it promotes a simplistic notion of gender, and results in a gross under inclusion, I shall here condemn this gender-specific notion in Indian rape law Rather, a civil rights-based approach to understanding sex violence should be followed and the role of ethnicity in determining victims and offenders of an act of abuse should be negated. The case is focused on the responsibility of a State not to prejudice on the concept of sex, the tolerance of transgender rights and an evaluation of the traditional grounds of Indian infringement legislation to reject gender neutrality.

 

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