Exigency of Gender Neutrality in Sexual Offences Legislation

  • Priya Kumari Pandey
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  • Priya Kumari Pandey

    Student at Lovely Professional University, India

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Abstract

Gender neutrality is a bone of contention in contemporary India. Indian penal laws are biased, unfavorable, and silent on the nitty-gritty of rape against males and other genders. It is all moonshine to frames laws based on prejudice and the stereotype that a male is the sole perpetrator of sexual offences. Penal law framers should consider males and other genders also as a “part and parcel of society”. It is astonishing to know that a “lot of persistent and predominant lacunas still haunt the efficacy of the archaic punitive legislation of India”. Gender-neutral laws are predominantly an acknowledgment of the victimization of a person irrespective of his gender; thereby, it is not at all in any way mitigating or negating the victimization of women. The researcher intends to simply “recognize the victimization of another vital class of the society, i.e., male and other genders”. Moreover, gender-neutral laws seek to grant the existence of equal protection, sanction, and opportunities to all the gender without any kind of harmful gender discrimination. The spirit of Article 14 shall be implemented only if sexual offenses are made gender-neutral. Recognition of gender-neutral laws is not anti-female perception, nor is it snatching rights conferred upon women. It only intends to make it noticeable to the lawmakers how Indian penal laws are ignorant of other genders. This paper contains both doctrinal and empirical data. The goal of this research paper is to enact a law to curb gender biases and promote gender neutrality in India.

Type

Research Paper

Information

International Journal of Law Management and Humanities, Volume 5, Issue 3, Page 545 - 565

DOI: https://doij.org/10.10000/IJLMH.113099

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