Supreme Court dismisses plea to make rape a gender-neutral offence

Supreme Court dismisses plea to make rape a gender-neutral offence

Context

Making crime gender neutral

Question were asked in a PIL which was dismissed by the court

• Why are certain crimes like rape in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) targeting men alone?
• Why cannot women also be the perpetrators of crimes like under Section 375 b (insertion of foreign objects into the private parts of a woman)?

View of the Court

• The judges on the Bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra reacted with different questions, all voicing an opinion that it is up to Parliament to gauge the changed social circumstances, and may be revamp the colonial penal code
• Article 15 was specifically intended to protect women and children from discrimination

View of the petitioner-in-person

• The term ‘man,’ wherever it is used in the definition of crimes under the IPC, should be replaced by ‘whoever,’ thus making the crime applicable for both men and women
• IPC was violative of the fundamental right against discrimination on the basis of gender enumerated in Article 15 of the Constitution