A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking directions to the Union of India to reconsider the misuse of laws under Sections 354A-354D, 506, 509, 376, 498a of IPC and to make gender-neutral laws as these laws were made earlier more than 150 years ago but now there is no such required and is contrary to Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India as misuse of these laws are rising across the country.
The PIL has been filed by two law students, Anam Kamil and Shrikant Prasad, as petitioners-in-person.
According to the petition, the laws discussed in the PIL were made in 1860, 1956, and 1983 – an era when women did not really have much of a say in anything. At that period of time, men were said to be superior to women. That must have been the reason why all these laws are female oriented. But laws should be ever dynamic and must keep pace with the evolving social milieu. Laws should be amended in tune with the new normal.
“In today’s world, women are also harassing males and subjecting males to cruelty; as has been already established. The laws should be amended according to the present needs and situation in India. The trend of misuse of sexual offences laws by women is at rise in the country, where the respect, honour, dignity of men are sabotage by the society merely because an allegation of sexual-related offence is made. Every time the accused man gets acquitted but still the respect, honour, dignity cannot be regained. But what about a man who was charged with the offence of rape and is proven innocent? Does society treat him in the same way as they used to do before he was trapped in a false case? The answer is no. Even if they are proved innocent, they are looked down by the people in the society who had already by themselves declared them as the perpetrator who deserves not to live with his head held high,” said the PIL.
It is alleged by the Petitioner , that situation has worsened with the increase in the use of social media platforms which can easily be used to tarnish someone’s reputation. This is the way society perceives the women-centric laws that the women are always the victim and the men are always the perpetrator without understanding the true cause.
Also Read: Supreme Court stays NGT action against BMC Commissioner
Petitioner no 1 (Anam Kamil) herself a women and aware with the misuse of law by women, and how the innocents lives are ruined due to false cases and there is no action being taken against women for filing cases. She is deeply anguished that how the females in India are defeating the real sense of feminism by doing such a cheap acts for mere publicity and public attraction by calling them as ‘Betiyan’ while other side the males are declared “darinda” .
For instance, in India, homosexuality was not a thing according to the rules of the society a hundred years ago. Nevertheless, people are gaining awareness about this particular issue and altering their point of view about homosexuality. Owing to this, and in keeping with the times, the Supreme Court of India decriminalized consensual gay sex and homosexuality in 2018 the supreme court held the sec 377 as unconstitutional in navtej singh johar vs uoi .
The Plea highlighted that the Apex Court in Joseph Shine v. Union of India (2018)-The five-judge bench unanimously struck down Section 497 IPC saying that it was unconstitutional since the very basis for criminalizing adultery was the assumption that a woman is considered as the property of the husband . Moreover the Supreme Court judgment in Union of India vs Ld Cdr Annie Nagaraja and others , Civil Appeal Nos 2182-87 of 2020 @ SLP (C) Nos. 30791-96 of 2015 held that serving women Short Service Commission Officers in Indian Navy were entitled to Permanent Commission at par with their male counterparts and further Apex Court judgment in The Secretary, Ministry of Defence vs Babita Puniya and others. Civil Appeal Nos 9367-9369 of 2011 whereby the Supreme Court directed that Permanent Commission should be granted to women in army regardless of their service, in all the ten streams where the Union Government have already taken a decision to grant Short Service Commission to women.
Also Read: Pegasus snooping: Supreme Court adjourns case to tomorrow, says can’t compel govt to file affidavit
In lights of those facts the Petitioners raised the question that still why presumption of society and laws that women are weak and oppressed community are not sustainable according to prevailing society, they are even much much stronger than human .It is all because the law has given them very powerful sharp edge weapon like power without any reasonable restriction and how to use those power, reasoned the Petitioners
The laws are made to protect every individual. But from the past, women were exposed to atrocities committed by men. They were considered as a weak and oppressed section of the society so various laws were made from time to time to protect them.
“But as we see it today, many laws which were made to benefit the females are many times used by them to their advantage in a wrong way by interfering with the right of the males. There is no dearth of cases in which fake allegations are levelled against men for ulterior motives. in a number of cases, laws meant to protect women are misused . “I have a long list of cases in which girls get into relationships with boys and if there is any tussle , they find it the easiest to level allegations of sexual assault on the boy. Since the law ensures immediate arrest of boys in cases of sexual abuse, the latter find themselves in troubled waters due to the fake allegations,” Laws are like double-edged weapons. If they are made to protect the rights of a person, they can also be misused to throttle the liberty of opponents. If such laws are made gender neutral then the crime against women will definitely reduced as per various theories and according the presumption of ordinary prudent person”, the petition reads.
In the PIL , the petitioners highlighted the recent case of Lucknow girl who was seen slapping a cab driver in a brutal manner just to gain publicity ultimately when the truth came out, it was a very brutal attack by the girl which shocked the nation . Similarly in 2015, a person name Sarabjit was called “Delhi ka darinda” merely because an allegation was made against him and that girl got high publicity and support. But when truth came he was found acquitted but his life, honour, dignity all are finished in the eye of society. Similarly, two sisters case of Rohtak where they had beaten three boys with belt just for gain the popularity and when truth came out they all were acquitted by the court but their life ,honour, dignity and all are ruined in the eye of society .
“Ladki thi isiliye jaane diya , Ladka hota to jail me hota,” quoted in the Petition.
QUESTIONS OF LAW –
A. Are the gender biased laws in ipc ie sec 354A-354D, 376, 509, 498a not contrary to the provisions of Articles 14, 15, 21 of the Constitution of India ?
B. Why the Section 128a of IPC is gender-biased law, why the identity of accused man is not protected and is being viral which demolishes the reputation ,honour and dignity of an individual framed in any case of sexual offences merely on an allegations?
C. What is the need of making gender biased-laws when there is no gender inequality in India while there are various law for their rights?
D. Is it not possible to cause sexual harassment, rape etc. with men by a women?
E. Why there is no provision of taking stringent action against women who files false sexual offences cases against any men merely with an ill-will motives ?
F. Whether the Articles 15(1) and 14 of the Constitution prevails over Article 15(3) and is there any requirement of Article 15(3) after 71 years of Constitution of India while women are on par with men?