ijalr

Trending: Call for Papers Volume 5 | Issue 2: International Journal of Advanced Legal Research [ISSN: 2582-7340]

MEN’S LIBERATION MOVEMENTS AND NEEDS OF MODERN MALE by - Aditya Fouzdar & Dimple Singh

ABSTRACT

Authors have tried to form an ideology of change with regards to modern male community in this paper. The society is gradually shifting from a male dominated one to gender equality, but we are losing the reason for change during this shift. This paper tries to explain the needs and differences a male has to go through from legal regulations to social discrimination. From understanding the needs and resources necessary to help all gender communities to uplifting females without discriminating with males, authors have linked facts to reality and established a newfound opinion on real needs of all sections of society. A difference between toxic male movements which oppose female growth completely and pro-feminists is also shown, with historical facts and data. Further, a few case laws are mentioned to present the bad state of men rights not only in India but in foreign countries too. False accusation on men is more of a trend to settle scores, extort money, and cause defamation for one’s own personal interests. The point of view formed is that when a false court case is filed, the life of the accused is destroyed even if they are acquitted and when convicted their life seems to have no purpose to serve. There is lack of policies and provisions to secure the interests of men even on international level. It is a topic of concern to which a blind eye has been turned around the world. Full proof laws and actions are required to be made and taken respectively otherwise the percentage of false accusations shall keep on increasing.

KEYWORDS: men’s rights; men’s liberation movement; gender equality; male domination; feminism; machismo; patriarchal society

Introduction

“Through the looking glass”

Being unfamiliar and different to what is expected. The situation around men’s rights around the world, if we dare say, is similar to going through the looking glass or almost crashing through it. Not long ago society was dominated by men and called a patriarchal society; but this changed for the better and gender equality became a thing in the 19th century. Before that too women fought a downhill battle and won. The foundation for the women’s rights and laws we see today was established by all those brave women, who refused to bow down to injustice and male domination. It is not wrong to say men never had the need to fight for their rights in particular. However, if a patriarchal society was unacceptable, an idea for a matriarchal society is atrocious too. Unfortunately, male activists are often labeled as advocates for male supremacy and any movements for male grievances as “hate propaganda” against feminism. Besides the legal movements, what society thinks and expects from men has not changed at all. Man is still considered as a “provider” and expected to work endlessly for family. Toxic stereotypical tropes such as Men don’t do household chores, they do tough work, a gay guy is not a real man, straight guys should not have gay friends, a real man has as many sexual partners as possible, a real man never says no to sex are still very much prevalent. According to society, men are robots which are programmed in a specific manner with needs and desires on which they can never gain control. This mentality is mirrored onto the lack of rape laws, men’s protection rights, and discrimination against them in various laws. Lack of provisions for men in family law (such as child custody, alimony and marital property distribution), suicides, domestic violence against men, education, social safety nets, and health policies is a sound example of the condition of men and need for men’s rights movements in modern day society. Gender Equality means every gender has the right and authority to indulge in whatever interest they desire. Any kind of discrimination in opportunities, wages, and access to basic necessities on grounds of gender should not be made.

Gender Equality or Gender Equity?

  • Gender Equality means treating every aspect of different gender communities same; then providing for same measures and resources without considering actual needs and circumstances of the communities. This method may seem fair from the surface but its not able solve deep rooted problems of the
  • Gender Equity, on the other hand, means providing resources for fair treatment by surveying, mapping out actual needs, and properly considering the imbalance and discrimination faced by all gender communities in Providing equal opportunities and allocating resources according to the circumstances to reach an equal and fair outcome is the end goal2.

From the perspective of Male rights:

The age old question of how to avoid discrimination doesn’t have a proper or a definite answer. Over time many approaches were made into solving this problem. Although, it goes without saying, we have not successfully achieved it.

  1. Equal rights: As can be perceived from the above image, first part suggests providing equal opportunities for all sections of community. An example for this can be providing right to vote to all adult Indian citizen including women in India in It’s set out in Article 326 of the Indian Constitution. This was a simple step to fill the gap between males and females. However, the gap was present from thousands of years and providing equal opportunities was not enough to fill it.
  2. Unequal rights: To solve the problem of discrimination against females and to provide extra support, laws like right against domestic violence were introduced. Under “Section 498 of the Indian Constitution a wife, female live-in partner or a woman living in a household, a mother or a sister victim of any kind of domestic violence (including verbal, economic, emotional and sexual) by the hands of a husband, male live-in partner or relatives can seek the court of law for justice. The accused shall be punished with a non-bail able imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine.” This right is not provided to males and even consideration to the topic of domestic violence against men is not This was done to reduce crimes against women, which granted, were very high and protection against them was absolutely necessary. However, giving a right to only one section of society is same as discriminating against another, whatever the reason maybe.
  1. Removing barriers: By removing and making new laws the problem can only be overcome, not completely removed. For making society a better place to live for every gender we should completely try removing the reason present for discrimination, as suggested in third part of above image. This will allow everyone to live peacefully without any need of new or unequal rights. Ironically, the reason lies in society itself and not in any law or rules. Stereotypes, rules, and already established duties for males and females are the reason which creates a gap between The reasons which were valid in Stone Age are still very much prevalent in some parts of the world. Modern age doesn’t need discrimination on the basis of duties and it is time we accept the need to make a change in society itself.

History of men’s rights movements

Though it may not seem, but voices for men’s rights were started to be raised long before it became a household name. The term Men’s rights were coined as early in February 1856, when it was mentioned in “Putnam’s magazine.”3 However, not all the voices were raised particularly from consideration of welfare and concern for men; they were more for the opposition of women rights which were even labeled as “new movement for social reform, and even for political revolution”.

In the early days of men’s rights movements many organizations, parties, and groups were made to support and carry forward the ideology of “men’s oppression by women”. The end of 18th century saw rise and fall of many of them. First organizations among them to be formed were in Austria between the period of First World War and the beginning of Second World War.

  • The League for Men’s Rights was established in 1926 with the goal of “combating all excesses of women’s emancipation”.4
  • The Justitia League for Family Law Reform was formed and,
  • The Aequitas World’s League for the Rights of Men were formed in 1927, both of them split from the league for men’s

These all organizations mentioned above have similar ideology and focusing on the condition or men’s rights was not in their priority list. They were formed in the opposition of the laws which they believed to be unfair and discriminating towards men. Some of the targets for this opposition were entry of women in labor market, paying child support after divorce or children born out of wedlock, and use of blood tests to determine paternity5 were among them. However, this cannot be denied that these laws were completely fair and betterment of female community. Getting women out of the stereotypical tropes and lay foundation of them in society was the main goal for introducing these laws. Having no proper standpoint and firm understanding of needs for both, male and female community, the organizations were short lived and stopped existing before 1939.

Men’s Liberation movements

The Men’s liberations movements must not be confused with men’s rights movements. Their main focus was to stay on the path of removing toxic masculinity and change the traditional stereotypes prevailing in the society for men. They were also sympathetic towards the need of female rights. Men’s rights movement on the other hand was mainly about the complaints of a group of men who believed females were destroying the “system” of society and wanted the traditional stereotypes to stay put. These kinds of groups of men can still be found in the society advocating this excruciating ideology. The men’s liberation movement is also intended to release men from the stereotypes and mentality which keeps them from expressing their emotions.

These new and modern ideas first started appearing in the first half of 1970’s, 6when people started taking the women rights movements seriously and scholars around the world focused on specific needs of every community in the society. In the late 1970s, men’s liberation movements split into two groups with opposing and different ideas about oppression of men or women in society.

The groups were defined in two different categories according to the ideology and views men carried at the time for men’s liberation and feminism.

  1. Pro-feminist groups: Pro-feminism is a term which is used to refer to the people who are in support of the feminism but are not necessarily an active member of feminists They are sympathetic to the cause and also support the “oppression faced by women in political, social, household, economic, and cultural equality with men.”7 Pro feminist men are these groups of men who embrace the feminist ideology but also work towards the mental and physical wellbeing of men and raise the issues related to toxic masculinity which are prevailing in society, They also work for the healthy gender equity and focus on the oppression faced by men in their day to day life without disregarding the growth and positive feminist ideas.
  1. Antifeminist groups: These groups mainly came into existence in the late 19th and early 20th century to oppose the feminist ideas and growth of women in society. People were opposed to the laws introduced in response to elevating the position of women in Some of the laws which were highly opposed at that time were “the right to vote, educational opportunities, property rights, and access to birth control.”8 The equality laws have been a topic of violent debates for a long time. Although men have been a major part of these groups, women have also been time to time labeled as anti- feminists. Some of the famous celebrities like Naomi Wolfe have been criticized due to the support or comment given by them for anti-feminist movements. They oppose the righteous laws and proposals given in favor of women in the name of oppression against men. This kind of ideology has proven disastrous on many occasions due to the violent movements and immoral agendas.

Several men’s rights organizations were formed following new principles and views with genuine consideration for rights and needs of males in society. The first one among them was Coalition of American Divorce Reform Elements which was founded by Richard Doyle in the year 1971. UK saw the rise in Men’s rights movements with the foundation of group called UK Men’s Movement in 1990s.

Development of internet helped in making people aware of men’s rights and movement saw new growth, however, the views promoted on internet were not all good, and most of them opposed the feminist ideas or were misogynistic in nature. Many sites were made to promote the principles of men’s liberation movements. Among them the most popular is A Voice for Men. This site includes all the forums, journals, and developments related to men’s rights movements. Some of the sites and Reddit communities were also made, like MGTOW (Men going their own way) and r/redpill. Unfortunately, these sites are more used for promoting toxic masculinity, misogynistic ideas, and entirely boycotting roles of women in personal or social growth.

We, the Men of India

India is one of the countries with highest crimes against women. Even the foreign surveys conducted shows various reasons tourists may avoid visiting India, despite wanting to. One of those reasons is rate of crimes in general and specifically against women. This made the need for strict protection laws for women more urgent. Laws for protection against harassment for dowry and POSCO (Protection of children from of sexual offences) act were introduced. However, there is no financial status, caste, religion, race or gender of criminals. Some women started misusing these laws to frame men for compensation, settlement money or even for simple revenge.

“With great powers, come greater responsibilities”, this proverb also applies to the legal power granted to people. They should always keep law as the supreme power and be responsible in following it. Misusing the power granted for your own protection should not be tolerated. This not only makes an innocent human a criminal but also is disrespectful for real victims of crimes they fight hard to get justice for. Earliest men’s rights movements were started by Rudolph D’Souza (Rudy), who was a victim of false dowry harassment accusation. He started the movements to help other people like him who were suffering from psychological trauma and injustice done to them or their families.

With the introduction of men’s liberation movements in India an organization, Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF) was founded to support the cause in 2005. 30,000 members joined the foundation till 2010. It was founded as a non-profit, non-funded NGO to fight against the misuse of laws made especially for the protection of women by women. There were many cases being reported for dowry harassment and false rape allegations but with no way to check validity of claims made, many innocent families and males were being targeted by women. Foundation helped these kinds of victims to gain justice and provide support. Many helpline numbers were issued for husbands and families, protests were conducted to add provisions in existing laws against the injustice to males and financial help was also provided by the organization to distressed males.

In India men are portrayed as perpetrators and considered guilty without any judgments. They had to go through media trial before even proved innocent or guilty. This biasness is shown whenever a woman is culprit and her privacy is given the utmost importance. Same importance should be provided to men even if they are guilty. There have been many instances when companies tried to portray men as “the criminal” even in their advertisements9 and tried to push it as comedy. This shows that not only legal but social discrimination is also done with men, and character assassination is taken lightly, whether done by media or general public.

Reasons for Indifference

Religious past: India is a very religious country, where many superstitions are still prevalent and a lot importance is given to traditions. Men have been benefitted from faith and many religious texts favors men over women. Religion had such an effect on justifying male superiority that everyone accepted it without a question. The rules linked to sacred faith also didn’t help in clearing the unjustified dominance of males. Due to this religious past men are still believed to have that privilege, and are discriminated on that basis. Some of the traditions which were being followed on the name of “traditions” have been recently changed; like Sati Pratha and child marriages. However, child marriages are still not completely removed from rural parts of India and this tradition is still followed there despite strict laws being formed to stop them. The mentality of linking male superiority to religion should be changed and focus on real issues should be given.

Machismo: It is defined as aggressive and strong masculine pride generally linked to toxic and expected behavioral pattern of males by the society. It is one of the words given by society to masculinity and the duties it expects from male community. Some of the tasks and habits which society assumes from males are providing for family, having as many sexual conquests as possible, performing only tough tasks, doing “masculine” work around the house, caring for children by staying at home is considered taboo, and being judged as sexual predators without reasoning. These stereotypes make it hard for modern males to justify themselves as a sensible and empathetic community. A society where a male is judged even when siding with his wife is up to no good. This discrimination can be seen in law where there are no rape laws and provision for domestic violence against men. As it is believed that these crimes are never done to males and only females suffer from this.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS – Landmark Judgments

53.2 % of the rape cases registered with the police between April 2013 and July 2014 in Delhi were falsified, statistics as given by The Delhi Commission of Women (DCW). The same report said that in the same time span 1464 cases out of the 2,753 complaints of rape were filed on false grounds. Section 375 of Indian Penal Code was formed to protect women from rape. But it clearly can be seen that this section is misused a lot. A saying goes with the section, i.e., “A man is guilty until proven innocent and a woman innocent until proven guilty.’’

1.  Vishnu Tiwari vs.   The State of Uttar Pradesh10

Vishnu resided in Uttar Pradesh’s village named Lalitpur with his father and two brothers. In September 2000, he was booked under rape and atrocities of an SC woman, under Indian Penal Code (IPC) and SC/ST Act. Vishnu Tiwari was convicted by the Lalitpur Court under Section 376, 506 of IPC for rape, and was awarded 10 years imprisonment. Under the Section 3(1) (7), 3(2) (5) of the SC/ST Atrocities Act he was further sentenced to life imprisonment in 2003. Tiwari’s plea challenging his conviction in 2005 by a trial court was deemed defective for the next 16 years.

But then Allahabad High Court took upon the case and said, ’’Most unfortunate aspect of this litigation is that the appeal was preferred through jail. The matter remained as a defective matter for 16 years and, therefore, we normally do not mention defective appeal numbers but we have mentioned the same.’’

The court looked upon all the evidences, medical reports and witnesses’ confessions and came to a conclusion that maybe the accused was wrongly convicted. The medical reports nowhere showed signs of a forced sexual intercourse, the private parts were not injured nor the lady’s body had any bruises which must have been after being harassed physically. The court also seemed to agree that there was a loophole in the confessions of the witness and the victim which clearly meant that the whole scenario was made up. Also the victim and her family (in laws) had a strong motive to file a fraud case against the accused as the two families had a dispute over land and animals. Hence Vishnu Tiwari was declared innocent and was freed.

After 20 years of imprisonment 43 year old Vishnu Tiwari was acquitted in January 2020. He had lost his whole family, was unmarried, his land was sold off to pay his lawyers, had just 600 rupees and a whole lot life to live but he has nothing to look forward to. With no education, no skill set, no family around, how is he supposed to move on in life?

False accusations against someone can cost them their life in such unimaginable hard ways. It took our judicial system 20 long years to acquit a wrongly convicted accused while the latter spent half his life in prison, did not get bail even for once, not even to perform last rites of his family members. A man is declared guilty even before the court pronounces the verdict because a heinous crime like rape can never be considered to be falsified. The harsh reality is that deep down justice is gender biased in cases of rape.

‘’We are pained to mention that even after 14 years of incarceration, the State did not think of exercising its power for commutation of sentence of life imprisonment of the present accused. His case should have been considered but has not been considered,’’ the court said.

“The factual scenario in the present case would show that had the Government thought of taking up the case of the accused, as per the jail manual, it would have been found that the case was not so grave that it could not have been considered for remission/commutation,’’ the court stressed.

2.  The story of Liam Allan11

Innovation of Justice, an organization of UK based Liam Allan, aims to raise awareness of the number of ways courts fail to provide justice and miscarriages often happen at the end of law. People like legal professionals; government figureheads and people with their greatest experience attend and speak at their nationwide conferences. The foundation of this organization is a personal experience of Liam with the judicial system of the country.

On 31st January 2016, Liam was allegedly arrested on a false rape accusation by his ex- girlfriend. This was a great shock to him as he considered his break up with her be a matured one, and had supposed that they were on good terms. Liam, the then criminology and criminal psychology student expected a lot from the judiciary as he was innocent, but even in the broad daylight he was in dark for almost two years. The tension hiked him up and he even thought of considering suicide as he had no aid to prove his innocence. He was officially charged with six counts of rape and seven of sexual assault, on March 2017. Liam also suffered at the hands of metropolitan police as they did not go about discovering evidence as they themselves believed that in false rape accusations nobody hears a word against victim’s protests. Thus the text messages exchanged between the accused and the victim were used as an evidence by the prosecution which were tagged as ‘’girlie chat’’ by the Met and hence it gave a chink of hope to the accused, and through that evidence it was settled that the sexual relationships built between the accused and the victim were formed on the consent of the victim and she had mentioned that it was her choice. In the end, the issues in Liam’s case were put down to ‘’a combination of error, lack of challenge and lack of knowledge’’, a joint review by the Metropolitan Police (the Met) and CPS found.

Although, Liam was acquitted, but his name revolved around the whole country making him ‘’famous’’ while the name of the victim remained anonymous.

The CPS undertook a review of 3637 sexual offence cases, since the Liam’s case. The digital evidence was now started to get importance which tried to re-establish some of the much- eroded trust in the working of the CPS.

The hash tag #believeallwomen was very prevalent in Liam’s case, but a question mark should be put at the end of this hash tag, so as to ask the society and system if all women could be trusted. Over the years men have started to become a victim of the #metoo movement, which in cases like above make the innocent suffer. A false accusation like this is made to teach the man a lesson for betraying or breaking up with the women, which sounds as dark as it is. Love cannot be enforced, feelings cannot be implanted, and a relationship has to have consent of the parties and not merely the female community. It happens when things don’t work out as they should have had but that does not amount to the idea of defaming and humiliating other person’s character so as to calm oneself.

3.  State vs. Mr. Upender Dutt Sharma@Goldi12

In 2013 the prosecutrix allegedly lodged a complaint against the accused of intoxicating and raping her. She further mentioned that the accused continued to rape her on the grounds of the promise of marriage. Witnesses and evidences were produced before the court by the prosecutrix, but the accused kept on pleading not guilty and tried to prove his innocence. The accused had claimed that the victim was already married and wanted to extort money from him and filed a fake complaint against him. 3 years down the line, in 2016, the court passed the judgment that the victim’s allegations against the accused were false. All her actions, evidences and witnesses were not in line had some or the other controversy. This was the case, where the judge mentioned in his judgment that false rape accusations dishonor the character of the accused and takes a high toll on their mental health and personal, professional life.

At the end of the judgment there were paragraphs related to falsely accuse ones.

“185. It cannot be ignored that the accused due to this case which was ultimately ended in his acquittal, as suffered humiliation, distress and misery besides the expenses of the litigation. His plight may also continue after his acquittal as his implication may have caused an uproar in society but his acquittal may not even be noticed. He would continue to suffer the stigma of being a rape case accused. He has remained in custody for a considerable period.”

There was a law in UK law books which discouraged the prosecution from revealing the identity of the accused until the trial and conviction so as to maintain their dignity but was taken away so as to encourage other victims to come up and not to be afraid. This simply explains that humiliation, media trials and ignominy are considered to be a justice to the victim, because the accused would no more be contained with respect and would not be accepted in the society, for all the years it takes the judgment to be passed either against or in favor of them. But this logic is not correct morally, because the falsely accused ones, who get acquitted or maybe not, have the world against them and in some cases their family too do not stand up for them.

The next Para in the judgment says,

“186. It may not be possible to restore the dignity and honor of the accused not compensate him for the humiliation, misery, distress and monetary loss. However, his acquittal may give him some solace. He may also file any case for damages against the prosecutrix, if advised. No one discusses about the dignity and honor of a man as all are only fighting for the rights, honor and dignity of women. Laws for protection of women are being made which may be misused by a woman but where is the law to protect a man from such a woman where he is being persecuted and implicated in false cases, as in the present case. Perhaps, now it is the time to take a stand for a man.”

4.  Some other case laws

  • A casual labor Rahul Chowdhary, 35, was allegedly arrested in 2013 in a false case of raping a 4 year old. He spent 21 months in jail, and then was acquitted as it was found out that the girl lied on her mother’s instructions and also the medical reports didn’t go at par with the lodged FIR. It was done so as to the settlement of scores which the girl’s parents owed to the accused13.

  • A Mumbai model turned actress allegedly filed a rape and molestation case against IPS Officer Sunil Paraskar. Her former lawyer revealed that she never mentioned him the word rape and used to keep changing her Later on, he found that the actress

was doing it to gain publicity to get into a reality show which featured people with controversial issues as contestants. Her whatsapp chats with her lawyer were also leaked where her texts clearly showed that she was looking for ways to make her case look like a big controversy before the reality show she wanted to contest in starts casting the contestants.14

PUNISHMENT REGARDING FILING FALSE RAPE ALLEGATION15

The Indian Penal Code has codified certain offences wherein falsifying has taken place, like, registration of a false complaint, presentation of a false evidence for the prosecution of an innocent person or any such intention is found to exist accuse and innocent person.

  1. “Sec 182: False Information, with intent to cause public servant to use his lawful power to the injury of another person – The false informant shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees or ”
  2. “Sec 186: Obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions – One shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may be extended to three months, or with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with ”
  3. “Sec 191: Giving false evidence – One shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine”
  4. “Sec 192: Fabricating false evidence – One shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, and shall also be liable to If someone does it knowing to be likely that he will thereby cause, any person to be convicted of an offence which by the law for the time being in force in India is not capital, but punishable with imprisonment for life, or imprisonment for a term of seven years or upwards, shall be punished as a person convicted of that offence would be liable to be punished.”
  5. “Sec 196: Using evidence known to be false – Shall be punished in the same manner as if they gave or fabricated false ”
  6. “Sec 199: False statement made in declaration which is by law receivable as evidence – Shall be punished in the same manner as if they gave false evidence.”
  1. “Sec 200: Using as true such declaration knowing it to be false – Shall be punished in the same manner as if they gave false evidence.”
  2. “Sec 211: False charge of offence made with intent to injure – Shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with ”

But if we take a closer look at all these sections and their punishments, they do not suffice the humility and character assassination of a person who has been falsely accused of rape. And also to get all these punishments implemented is a different battle as the prosecution goes on filing appeals to the higher courts which drags the case for years for no reason.

FOREIGN POLICIES

Around the world, female is considered to be the weaker sex. It has been well considered to protect their rights and provide them justice every time. They fight for their rights and also have the backup support of the nation and sometimes the support is worldwide. Due to this belief people turn a blind eye to the male community and their rights. It shall be shocking to know that around the world, nobody talks about men’s rights in particular except for the men activists who again have to deal with the opposing radical feminists. There are no departments in any government which deal with men’s rights and hence there are none. In false cases where men are accused, they do not tend to get the justice to what they go through. A false accusation of rape is a psychological rape and takes a high toll on the mental health of the accused. Even if acquitted without going to jail, the social life of men is next to nothing, and the ones who go behind the bars have nothing left to live for. Even with such disastrous effects, there are no provisions to safeguard the interests of men. There no such punishments to the accuser. Even after being proven innocent, men have to fight again to ensure the accuser does not get a free walk and also give the compensation, whereas it shall be the judicial duty to make sure the falsely accused gets proper justice and the accuser suffers through what they made the former suffer. There are provisions for human rights, women rights but not for men rights which shall be questioned. Because society casted them to be a stronger gender doesn’t mean they are the only oppressors and cannot be harassed. Honesty, good behaviour, strong character and regard are not gender biased and neither right should be.

It’s been a long time now that the world understands the importance and necessity of men’s rights and its safeguarding policies because a criminal and accuser come in all forms.

CONCLUSION

Over the years, section 498 A, 354, 509 and 376 of the Indian Penal Code have been providing the much-wanted justice to the women and help in empowering them and safeguarding their interests. The issue arises when a man is a victim of such an offence or is a false accused, where is the person supposed to seek justice. The Indian feminists consider this plea as a competition to the female victims and make them count the differences of trauma, depression, crushed social life and all other after effects of being a female victim. This can be explained in a very simple way, that it is every one’s right to seek justice and fight for them. Pain of no victim can be compared to others, what is demanded is an equal right to move the court and defend oneself as a male victim. The provisions which are kept in mind while dealing with a female victim shall not be changed for a male one.

Article 14 of the Indian constitution talks about equality, but rather, it is seen that , there is no law which talks about the protection of modesty of men or ensures a punishment if a man is a subject of harassment by a woman. Most men face domestic violence but do not lodge complaint against their wives or in laws due to the fear of not being understood or the stigma that goes around. They silently live the torcher life and when not able to take it either they end up giving up on their life or stand up against the harassment which eventually results into fake allegations and an extended court case.

The country needs to understand the gravity of the situation and form better laws to safeguard the interests of men. The judicial system needs to make amendments and sections in IPC to protect the modesty of men. As the youngest Nobel peace prize winner Malala Yousafzai said, ‘’We realize the importance of our voices, only when we are silenced’’

1 Student at JEMTEC Law School, Noida & Banasthali Vidyapeeth Jaipur Respectively.

2 “Image source : Google”

3 “A word for men’s rights”

4 ‘Wollen Sie ein Mann sein oder ein Weiberknecht?’ Zur Männerrechtsbewegung in Wien der Zwischenkriegszeit

5 “Der ‘Bund für Männerrechte’. Die Bewegung der ‘Männerrechtler’ im Wien der Zwischenkriegszeit”. Wiener Geschichtsblätter [de]. 58 (3): 208–233.

6 “The limits of “The Male Sex Role”: an analysis of the men’s liberation and men’s rights movements’ discourse”. Gender & Society.

7 “Oxford English Dictionary”.

8 Encyclopedia of Women and American Politics.

9 “Men’s groups want ‘offensive’ ad off air”.

10 9th JULY, 2019

11 “https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/reports/a27451529/false-accusation-accused-rape-liam-allan/

12 2ND JULY, 2016

13 “https://menrightsindia.net/2015/02/mumbai-man-acquitted-from-false-rape-charge-after-21-months-in-jail.html

14 https://menrightsindia.net/2014/08/false-rape-by-model-against-mumbai-dig-sunil-paraskar-falls-flat.html”

15 “https://blog.ipleaders.in/false-accusation-rape-punishment-false-complaints-india/”