NOVEMBER 12, 2018
NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court today refused to hear a petition that asked the court to step in and make India’s rape law gender-neutral.
The Supreme Court refused to intervene, saying that it was up to Parliament to modify the country’s rape law.
Currently, India’s rape law does not criminalise the rape of men or transgender people. Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code, which defines a rape, says that it is a man who commits the act of rape and that it is a woman who is a victim.
A plea was filed challenging this section and the petitioner argued that Section 375 did not recognise that men and women could be both victims as well as perpetrators of rape.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said that the Supreme Court could not interfere at this stage and that legislature should look into the issue of protecting men and transgender persons.
Courtesy/Source: India Today
