"The Definition"- In India , Rape is indeed an issue , but for women . Lets see how we define rape in our country . Section 375 of Indian Penal Code defines rape as "A man is said to commit rape if he"- inserts a penis, or any foreign object, into a vagina without the consent of the woman or girl.
The Indian Penal Code only mentions a single definition of rape , where it specifies that women can be victimized of the crime and only men can be the offenders.
In legal terms where we have numerous provisions and laws to define the rape against women , there we have section 377 under which women cannot be booked for rape. At the most, they can be booked for sexual assault .
Why Gender Neutral Laws?
India is a patriarchal society and the concept of Toxic masculinity forces upon men that they can't be vulnerable - only women are , this implies on them that men can use their power to exploit women and it cannot get other way round.
Most of the male victims are often told to 'enjoy it' if attempted to seek help.
The unrealistic standards of the society demands them to be dominating, to hide emotions of sadness , fear and vulnerability and are mostly not taught to deal with them.
However , we cannot ignore the fact that men can be raped too by both male(s) as well as female(s). Because of the unrealistic standards and humiliation attached to the concept most victims do not share the incident with their family members or friends, leave alone reporting it to the police and even if the courage is gathered to report the incident , they are not taken seriously.
Statistics Needed
The statistics of The US department of justice has stated that out of those convicted of rape are 99% men and only 1% women , on the other hand the statistics of India are still awaited.
Why? we all know the answer to this , there is a huge taboo of male being rape victims .
the Delhi-based Center for Civil Society found that approximately 18% of Indian adult men surveyed reported being coerced or forced to have sex. Of those, 16% claimed a female perpetrator and 2% claimed a male perpetrator.
According to NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) there were approximately 33,500 (in 2018) cases of rape against women , but when it comes to male rape , unfortunately there is no data for the same.
EQUALITY, just for the sake of saying ?
Talking about gender neutral laws , let us recall why we actually need gender neutral laws , not only in the cases of rape , but in every aspect.
Article 14. clearly states "The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India." , if we carefully follow the same , we'll be able to understand the importance of the so called "equality" that we demand in every smaller aspect of life , but forget the bigger and deeper aspects of society.
Apart from that , if we analyse the framing of Indian Penal Code on Rape laws , it very well depicts that according to Indian society only women are victims of rape and sexual assault .
These are the following sections that cover crimes against women in terms of rape :- 375, 376, 376A, 376B, 376C, 376D, and 376D .
Now lets have a look at what our laws say about crimes against men in terms of rape:- Section 377 , (a male can only file a case under this only on the grounds of either sodomy or sexual harassment).
Here the only difference is , the laws for women has provisions and elaborate definitions because , female rape is taken at a serious level in our country , but on the other hand , we have male rape treated as taboo and the only reason we do not have victims coming forward to seek help.