According to Live Law, the Kerala High Court ruled on Wednesday that rape should be declared a gender-neutral crime underneath the Indian Penal Code. The oral comment was made by the court while reviewing a custody dispute between a divorced couple.
The father of the kid is a defendant in a rape case, which his wife’s counsel stated in court. However, the father’s attorney claimed that he was out on bail in the rape case because a judge had ruled that the charges against him of “having intercourse under the false promise of marriage” were baseless.
In response, Justice A Muhamed Mustaque of the Kerala High Court said that Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code, which allows for punishment in rape cases, is not a gender-neutral provision.
According to Live Law, he said, “If a woman deceives a guy with the false promise of marriage, she cannot be penalized.” “However, a guy may be prosecuted for the same crime.” What type of legislation is this? It should be gender agnostic.”
According to Section 375 (4), a man commits rape if he “knows that he is not her husband and that her consent is provided because she thinks he is another man to whom she is or believes herself to be legally married.”
Justice Mustaque’s words on Wednesday echoed a similar point made by him in a case a month earlier, in which the court ruled that intercourse on the promise to marry amounts to rape only if a woman’s bodily autonomy is compromised, according to Bar & Bench.
The court noted that the legislative requirements for rape are not gender-neutral and that the court must consider the “dominant and subservient positions of both parties.”
According to Bar & Bench, a 2018 appeal filed before the Supreme Court by the non-governmental organization Criminal Justice Society of India challenged the gender exclusion in rape legislation for males and transgender people.
The Supreme Court decided not to intervene in the case, saying that the “issue is real,” but that an existing rule cannot simply be repealed without enacting new legislation.
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