Tag: #gendernuterallaw

Misuse of Section 375 .

Credit- iPleaders

Section 375 of the Indian Criminal Code was created to protect women from rape. In Indian criminal law, in section 375 Men are said to commited rape if he :
(a) pierce the penis in some way or force a “rape” on a woman’s vagina, mouth, urethra, or anus.
(b) in some way insert an object or body part other than the penis into the woman’s vagina, urethra, or anus, or have the woman do so to him or others.
(c) manipulate any part of a woman’s body to penetrate or penetrate the woman’s vagina, urethra, anus, or other parts of her body.
(d) place the mouth in the woman’s vagina, anus, urethra.

Under Section 370 , If a person rape woman and do so in any of the following seven situations.
1) Against to their will. 2) Without their consent. 3)With consent and consent for fear of death or injury to them or those they are close to.
4) Consent is given because a man knows he is not her husband and believes that he is another man who is married, or that he is legally married. If so, with her consent
5) If she is under the age of 18, with or without her consent.

Abuse of power
One of the famous sayings used in connection with Section 375 is “Men are guilty until proved innocent, and women are not guilty until proved innocent.”
Laws enacted to empower women and reassure them in patriarchal societies soon turned into swords that killed the dignity of men in society by false accusations, or women misused laws and power made to protect them. The problem that is occurring in our world today is that women use verbal consent to have sexual intercourse and later refuse or refrain from having sexual intercourse or falsely accuse men that they had it without thier consent. In both cases, the man has the responsibility of proof and must prove his innocence.

According to an article published in The Times of India , only one person was convicted in each of the fourth cases of rape, and high probability that anyone who did not proven guilty after a full trial could be innocent. Leads to the high assumption that innocent people have been accused of rape. India’s conviction ratebin rape cases is 32%, which is self-evident from the fact that numerous false reports related to rape have been registered in India.

Being a victim of false rape allegations is as bad as being a victim of rape. You can’t imagine the shock, trauma, ridicule, and humiliation that someone experienced after being falsely accused of rape. Not only the man, but his family and close friends suffer from various consequences, and isolation and ridicule are just a few of them. Their future is shattered, the humiliation and shame that society suffers is enough to shatter it, and no one can think of them living as they used to.

What can be done ?
The creators of Article 375 of the 2013 Act and the Criminal (Amendment) having only one vision in context to the problem, consider only the safety of women and have not developed any means of protecting innocent men in society. Therefore, there is usually a debate about what we can do to protect innocent people from society who are falsely accused. Provision (Section 375) cannot be said to be gender-neutral to remove the slight justice that this section offers, as it acts as a hurdle for women to file genuine rape cases.
Then the question arises. What can you do? In such situations, the legislature and judiciary need to work together to strike the right balance between men and women so that the virtues of justice are provided to them equally.

FEMINISM

Understanding the difference between biological determinism and social constructionism:

Gender differs in culture and personal circumstances, they shape the way men and women behave according to society’s norms and values, stereotypes bound to them.

Freud and parson theorized the biological determination of humans based on certain DNA, proteins, chromosomes, hereditary genes, etc.  The BRUCE REIMER CASE ruled that social factors do not always override biological factors in determining gender.

Social constructionism means how gender roles are created by us in everyday lives. Margaret mead shows a distinction between men and women based on three societies:

  1. Both are cooperative
  2. Women were dominant,  men were obedient
  3. Both were aggressive and ruthless.

Masculine and feminine roles are learnt and shaped in cultural socialization and not inborn; biological specific. Many factors such as education, social norms and values, images identification and traditions influence our thoughts.

Concept of women and men are subject to change over time. The society in which we live is more anatomy rather than destiny, the roles segregated for males and females in past are started to get fade. Society and culture can no doubt shape the beliefs and standards for a certain society however we can not ignore our fundamental biological nature.

Strong social constructionism tends to suggest that the natural world has a small role in the construction of scientific knowledge.

Patriarchy refers to a society dominated by men i.e. society, state and economy are characterised by systematic, institutionalised and pervasive gender oppression. The term means rule by the father,  which means that the patriarchal society is based upon male domination.

Women lack knowledge of their history of struggle and achievement has been one of the major means of keeping them subordinate. The denial to women of their history has reinforced their acceptance of the ideology of patriarchy and has undermined the individual women’s sense of self-worth.

There is a need to adopt political ideas which have proved helpful to strengthen the position of women in society.

Title – Being Women

Introduction –
‘It has never been a good time to be a woman.’ Shackled at home, deprived of rights in society, and subjected to gender bias at the workplace, women have borne the brunt of being the weaker sex all through history. Though the skew in rights and treatment haven’t quite corrected itself, women are possibly in a better place today than ever before. This is because of rising awareness, availability of global forums, and social media to voice their anguish and angst, changes in laws to empower them, and proactive governments to implement gender-neutral law. Still, there are many areas that can do with a nudge to empower them, one being the succession, inheritance laws, Marriage, Divorce (especially in Muslim law), Maintenance, Protection, Equal rights, and freedom. The share of inheritance of a woman is half that of a man. Since upon marriage, a woman receives mahr and maintenance from the husband, as well as inheritance, while a man only has the inherited property, it is generally considered that the woman should have a lesser share in the inherited property.
When all these things get over, there comes lack of freedom to choose what to wear, whom to marry, Pursuing career is war-like situation for a woman and when she fights with all this taboo she fears walking on the road with a sense of Security. She faces Eve Teasing, Assault, Violence, Rape, Trafficking, and whatnot. She even needs to prove to the law that she doesn’t bleed by choice, but that’s natural and sanitary napkins, taprooms are not luxurious but essential commodities. 

Though there are multiple amendments as of 2019 for women’s wellbeing still there is wide scope for development in the following fields – 
1 – Right to Education and pursue  job to make them self-reliant
2 – Equal Share in Inheritance Property 
3 – Protection against Unconstitutional way of divorce.
4 – Gender Equality 
5 – Protection against men doing four Nikhas (marriage) and get entitlement under uniform civil code and such act shall get published under bigamy or polygamy as the case may be. 
6 – Freedom to choose a life partner from other caste as well, as India is Secular country hence prohibiting adults to choose a partner to get married from same cast shall be offense. 7 – Age of puberty shall not be same as Age of maturity hence At least till women attain age of 18 she shall not be forced to get married as she should be given chance to develop mentally and physically for becoming part of married life and having sexual intercourse or say conceiving child.(under Muslim Law) 

Article 44 of Indian Constitution – Uniform Civil Code v. Women’s Right – 
Because none of the politician want to loosen their vote banks, they never actually give a try for uniform civil code for all citizens irrespective of Gender or Caste. But unfortunately Womans specially Muslim Sisters are suffering alot to get justice because of their own septate Muslim Act (not being against their Act but raising voice for equal opportunity and justice for both gender) I feel it’s peak time to make uniform law in practicality and end this controversy of applicability of Article 44.

“Women don’t need special treatment they just need protected environment with equal opportunity to develop as a human and enjoy Right to Life and Personal liberty provide under Article 21 of Constitution.”

#woman #Article44 #Article21 #righttobleed #righttosafety

                                                                                                                       By Sonu Chaturvedi