Synopsis for Dissertation

on the topic
THE NEED FOR GENDER NEUTRAL LAWS IN INDIA

Submitted by-
Rahul Khemka
1416405
9 BBA LLB ‘B’
School of Law

Under the guidance of-

Ms. Chaitra V
Assistant Professor
School of Law
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sl. No. Contents Page no.

1 Introduction 2

2 Statement of Problem 3-4

3 Research Questions 4

4 Objectives 4

5 Research Methodology 5

6 Chapters 5-6

7 Literature Review 6-8

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 INTRODUCTION

And they thought men were ridiculous and delicious and terrible, taking every opportunity to let them
know that they were. —Toni Morrison, Jazz

Gender neutrality is an idea or a movement which encourages avoiding negative differentiation

among people on the basis of people’s sex or gender with regard to policies, language and other
social roles. It basically aimed to bring parity in society by abolishing the thought of superiority
of one gender upon another i.e. equal treatment of men and women in various aspects. Right to
have an equal treatment is guaranteed to every citizen of the country irrespective of sex of a
person.

At the international level, both men and women are equal in terms of rights and dignity without
any discrimination. Gender is a social, cultural and political construct. It gives a range of
characteristics which lead to create a difference between masculinity and femininity in various
fields, it may be in politics, workplace, economy, domestic level etc.

Gender also has its legal significance as it is mentioned in governmental and official documents
which is used to avail certain rights and liabilities on this basis. Which is also different for men
and women. Like different tax slabs, pension status. This gender factor also affects the social
status and role of a person like marriage, occupation, social behaviours etc.

It is the need of hour that laws be more gender neutral. To bring equality and to protect the
rights of the people of third sex gender and homosexuals neutral laws are imperative. These
days a regular conflict can be easily seen in the mode of the men’s rights movement in India.
It is the outcome of high rate of manipulation and exploitation of female oriented laws.

The Justice Verma Committee of 2012 underlined the need for India to recognise different
sexual orientations and recommended inclusion of transgenders along with other genders, i.e.
men and women while drafting gender-neutral laws. The laws must not be over-sympathetic
and must certainly cease to look at women as a down-trodden, ill-treated class which can never
do any wrong, men as a class born to rape, abuse and harass. Gender neutrality is a situation
where both genders co-exist together without conflicting interests. The issue with gender is that
it espouses how we ought to be, instead of conceding how we are.

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 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

The problem of domestic violence directed against women is unquestionably a very serious
and a big problem. But, the recent past has witnessed a gradual increase in the number of cases
where the issue of domestic violence is directed against the man. The supremacy of man which
has been in existence from the past may make one believe that men are not vulnerable to
domestic violence. However sad though very rarely noticed, the battering of men by their
spouse and family members has become a concerned issue and is another form of domestic
violence under purview of judiciary.

Men do not have many rights to approach the court of law in case any crime is done against
them. There exists no law in the country which helps a man deal with a case of domestic
violence, harassment at workplace, false cases filed in women oriented laws, etc. Some of
major laws specifically biased against men include-

1. Section 498A and 304-B IPC (Cruelty and Dowry Death)

2. The Protection Of Women From Domestic Violence Act, 2005
3. Section 497 IPC (Adultery)
4. Section 375 IPC (Rape)

All of these laws are so women centric that men do not in most cases even stand a chance to
prove their innocence, and have to spend years in prison before finally being acquitted. Most
of these provisions are non-bailable, cognizable and non-compoundable. Also, in cases where
men face similar crimes happening towards them, there is no legal recourse available. The need
of the day is to make these laws gender neutral, and to determine stringent punishments for
those found guilty of filing false complaints against their spouse.

In the last decade 2.3 million people were arrested under Sec. 498A IPC. Since 1998, of 540980
cases that were tried, more than 437845 resulted in acquittal. Out of 1426933 persons tried,
1150293 were not found guilty.1

In case of Sushil Kumar Sharma v. Union of India & Ors.2, the Supreme Court observed, “But
by misuse of the provision a new legal terrorism can be unleashed. The provision is intended

1
Statistics of the National Crime Records Bureau
2
(Writ Petition (civil) 141 of 2005)

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to be used a shield and not assassins’ weapon. If cry of “wolf” is made too often as a prank
assistance and protection may not be available when the actual “wolf” appears.”

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What are the lacunas present in the current laws in India intended to protect women and
provide gender equality?
2. Why are changes needed in the present laws to make them more gender neutral?
3. What changes can be made to the current laws to make them more gender neutral?

OBJECTIVES

The main objective of the research shall be to discuss the shortcomings in the present laws in
the country and to discover changes that can be brought about in these laws to make them
gender neutral. It also shall be attempted to showcase how these recent judgments have set the
ball rolling towards having laws that are gender neutral in India owing to bestowing equal
rights on women which will pave way towards attaining equality and social justice. The
researcher shall delve into analysing the current protective legislations in India in the light of
gender neutral laws and conclude by suggesting the necessary changes that can be implemented
so as to protect all the genders equally under the law and not protecting only a single class at
the cost of the other. The article shall also try to signify the need of gender neutral laws due to
dilated abuse and manipulation of women-centric laws calling for the concept of parity between
the sexes without any discrimination.

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 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The nature of methodology to be adopted for the purpose of this dissertation is doctrinal, as
opposed to empirical approach. The researcher would be relying principally on primary data
such as statutes enacted and judgements pronounced by Indian as well as foreign state
instrumentalities. The secondary data which will be relied on would include opinion of scholars
in renowned journals, books by eminent authors, Commission reports, newspaper and blog
articles and internet documents.

CHAPTERS

1. Introduction – this shall include a general introduction to the topic, and statistics
relating to the need for gender equal laws.
2. History and jurisprudence – this will trace the history and development of laws in
general, the demand for gender equal laws and the men’s rights movement in India and
across the globe. Also this chapter will include the jurisprudential aspects covering
gender equal laws.
3. The Legislations – this chapter shall cover the various legislations as mentioned above
which need to be amended to make them gender neutral.
4. The Status in other countries – this chapter shall include a comparative study on legal
status in various countries, including USA, UK, Australia, Pakistan, etc.
5. The Judicial pronouncements and other recommendations – this chapter shall include
the judgements given by the Supreme Court of India, various High Courts and also
recommendations made by the Law Commission of India, and other committees. This
Chapter shall also cover the attempts made by the Parliamentarians to amend the laws
to make them gender neutral.
6. Recommendations – This chapter shall also cover the new legislations which need to
be enacted regarding the same, like provisions relating to filing for false cases and
powers of the judge.
7. Conclusion

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8. A draft bill containing the amendments needed in the present laws, and new provisions
of laws that need to be enacted.

LITERATURE REVIEW

1. Shweta Kabra, Gender Neutral Laws- How Needful in India?, AWARDED LAW
RESEARCH REPORTS JOURNAL, Vol 1 (Manupatra)
The author tries to examine the need for a gender neutral rape law in India. The author
traces the rape law reforms that have taken place in India and various aspects of gender
neutral law.
2. Bala Nikit, Gender Neutrality In Sexual Harassment Bill, [2014] 1 MLJ (CRL) 41
The author talks about the Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at
Workplace Act, and discusses how it leads to stereotyping the incidence of harassment
to be attributed only to victims who shall be only women. He also discusses how this
Act has outbalanced the very nature of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.
3. Tanvi Mathur & Himanshi Motiani, Favouring Women by Divesting Men: An
Overview, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
RESEARCH (IJMSSR) ISSN: 2319-4421, Volume 6, No. 9, September 2017
The authors discuss how there is a basic dogma that men are dominating, insensitive
and stronger than women but the scenario has metamorphosed and many pro women
laws are being ill-used which evidently denies fairness to the actual sufferer. Gender
neutrality isn‘t anti-feminism or bolstering men but a mode to move towards an
egalitarian society.
4. Rebecca Rajan, Gender Equality And Gender Neutral Laws: The Future Of Social
Justice In India, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LAW AND LEGAL JURISPRUDENCE
STUDIES ISSN 2348-8212, Volume 4 Issue 5, 2017
This article highlights how many times the judiciary as well as the legislature forget
that equality is not a women empowerment concept but that of gender equality and
while India is a signatory to several international covenants on the rights of individuals,
such as The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, The International Covenant

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 on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 and The International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights, 1966, all of which upholds the inalienable right of every
person to equality and human dignity, yet when it comes to promulgated gender neutral
laws, India has failed miserably.
5. Pratibha Ahirwar, Domestic Violence Against Men: Need For Gender Neutral Laws In
India, THE WORLD JOURNAL ON JURISTIC POLITY ISSN:2394-5044, Jan 2018
The author discusses the need for effective legislations to curb domestic violence
against men must be put in place and enforced. Law enforcement agents should accept
that domestic violence against men is a reality, from which men should be protected.
The brutality of a man by his wife should not be seen as a trivial domestic matter. The
trials of women who batter or kill their husbands must be given wide publicity in order
to serve as deterrence to others who may have such tendencies.
6. NANCY LEVIT, THE GENDER LINE - MEN, WOMEN, AND THE LAW 168-198 (NYU Press.
1998)
The author evaluates men's movements in popular culture and some of the theoretical
work in the social sciences regarding masculinity. It also looks at the ways feminist
legal theory has constructed maleness. In some ways, the situation of men in feminist
theory parallels the treatment of women in traditional theory: initially excluded, then
admitted at the margins, and—this reaches into the future—perhaps moving more
toward the centre of inquiry.
7. Jidan Kongari, Gender Neutrality and Legal Complexities in India, LEGAL INDIA,
https://www.legalindia.com/gender-neutrality-and-legal-complexities-in-india/
The author deals in jurisprudential study of gender neutrality and legal complexities in
India with special reference to rape laws. The author has also highlighted the status
male victims in India.
8. Sanyanti Chatterjee, Gender Neutrality In India: Rights Versus Reality, RACOLB
LEGAL, http://racolblegal.com/gender-neutrality-in-india-rights-versus-reality/

The author discusses the importance to recognize the rights of not only women, but also
men and the LGBT community to ensure that the rights we ensure are also held up in
reality and that the basic purpose of laws are maintained. The author recognizes the
need of inclusion of people belonging to LGBT community in a law making it gender
neutral.

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9. RATNA KAPUR, OXFORD CONSTITUTIONS OF THE WORLD [OCW] 742 (Sujit Choudhry
et al, Oxford University Press 2016)
The author addresses the issue of equality in the context of post-colonial India and some
of the structural and normative obstacles when bringing constitutional challenges in the
bid for greater equality. She examines efforts at using law, and particularly
constitutional equality rights, to challenge laws that discriminate on the basis of sex in
India. She has also examined some of the efforts to use fundamental rights to equality
as guaranteed by Articles 14, 15, and 16 of the Constitution to challenge legal rules and
provisions.