MALE VICTIMS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT

INTRODUCTION
Men are strong and they don’t have sentiments. This belief is still apprehended in some parts of
the world which needs to be changed. Sexual assault is taboo especially in India and people here
are so rigid with their thoughts that they are not ready to accept that even males are well exposed
to all acts of sexual harassment. According to data released by the National Crime Records
Bureau (NCRB), India recorded 88 rape cases of girls every day in 2019. The above data can be
found anywhere on google but the data provided in the next statement, took me an hour to find it
and that too is not related to India. According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales
(CSEW), “in the year 2017, till March, there were 20% women and 4% men who experienced
sexual assault since the age of 16, equivalent to 3.4 million female and 631,000 male victims.
We have heard several quotes that portray Men as strong pillars of society which is creating a
stereotype inside everyone that Sexual Assault can only occur with Women and Girls as they are
weak in strength compared to Men. This unspoken burden is hampering the minds of the men
who have faced or are facing or will face sexual assault as these ideologies as well as a society
with a strong masculine custom are pulling them backward from recording a complaint against
the person who committed such ill offense.

SEXUAL ASSAULT
Men are always believed to be the perpetrators in case of sexual assault and not the victim, but
when it comes to women it is believed that women can only be the victims and never the
perpetrators. Sexual Assault can happen to anyone, no matter what your age is, sexual
orientation, or gender identity.
Sexual Assault refers to sexual contact that occurs without the explicit consent of the other party
and includes unwanted sexual touching, forcing someone to perform sexual acts, attempted rape,
etc. Sexual Assault can occur in the workplace, a school or university, public place, etc.
There is a difference between sexual assault and sexual harassment that Sexual harassment
includes unwelcoming verbal and physical sexual attention but sexual assault mostly deals with
physical sexual non-consent attention.

RAPES OF MALES
Although women are more subjected to sexual assault compared to men, it does not decline the
fact that men are sexually assaulted too and they should be given equal opportunity to report the
assault and get justice as everyone has a right to access justice. Male rapes have been worryingly
stigmatized in India.
Under IPC, the definition of Rape is so constructed that it implies that if a rape case is registered
then the gender of the victim must be female and the gender of the perpetrator must be male as
section 375 reads as:
Rape - A man is said to commit “rape” who, except in the case hereinafter excepted, has sexual
intercourse with a woman under circumstances falling under any of the six following
descriptions: —
(First) - Against her will.
(Secondly) -Without her consent.
(Thirdly) - With her consent, when her consent has been obtained by putting her or any person in
whom she is interested in fear of death or of hurt.
(Fourthly) -With her consent, when the man knows that he is not her husband and that her
consent is given because she believes that he is another man to whom she is or believes herself to
be lawfully married.
(Fifthly) - With her consent, when, at the time of giving such consent, because of unsoundness of
mind or intoxication or the administration by him personally or through another of any stupe-
fying or unwholesome substance, she is unable to understand the nature and consequences of that
to which she gives consent.
(Sixthly) - With or without her consent, when she is under sixteen years of age
It establishes that in India there’s no actual law if a male rapes another male or female rape a
male. However, if we study the ground reality shown in the survey of India Dariwala which
surveyed 1500 male out of which 71% of men surveyed said they were abused, 84.9% said they
had not told anyone about the abuse and the main reasons for this were shame (55.6%), followed
by confusion (50.9%), fear (43.5%) and guilt (28.7%).1
This clearly shows that Indian legislation in its present doesn’t treat men and women equally in
these cases. The legislation should also consider men's issues otherwise it will be a violation of
Article 14(5). Hence, there must be equality before justice.

LAWS IN INDIA
In India, the legislation shows their major concern towards women to protect them from sexual
harassment and rapes because as earlier stated we are living in a society that believes Men can
only do the wrong but can’t be the victim of a wrong, especially in these cases. Indian Penal
Code provides with Section 377 which criminalizes all the acts of nonconsensual carnal
intercourse, including male-on-male rape. And this is the only statute which shows a little

1
Rituparna Chatterjee, “The mindset is that boys are not raped”: India ends silence on male sex abuse, The
Guardian, May 23, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/may/23/indian-study-male-sexual-
abuse-film-maker-insia-dariwala (last visited Apr 14, 2020
concern towards Men’s safety in these matters and other than this, there is no law, no statute to
safeguard males from the cruel act of assault and rape.
Section 377 reads out as- “Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature
with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with
imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be
liable to fine.”
The Delhi HC in the landmark judgment of Naz Foundation v. Government of NCT and Ors 2
stated that the provisions of Section 377 of I.P.C will continue to administer non-consensual
penile, non-vaginal sex, and penile non-vaginal sex involving minors.
Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code talks about Rape but doesn’t include male rapes. Our
Indian Judiciary and legislators always talk about providing equal rights and equal treatment
regardless of gender. But, sadly, failing to make any laws for sexual harassment, sexual assault
or rape depicts a complete violation of the ‘Right to equality’.

NEED FOR GENDER NEUTRAL LAWS

As the rate of cases regarding male sexual assault and harassment is increasing day by day, many
countries around the globe like the U.K., Denmark, Australia, the U.S. have recognized the need
for Gender-Neutral Laws. Some instances suggested Gender-Neutral Laws like the 172nd law
commission of India endorsed that rape laws in India should be made gender-neutral to protect
male victims too. In 2017, Adv. Sanjiv Kumar filed a PIL at the Delhi High Court, which
challenged the constitutionality of the rape laws under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). But no
matter what, in India, we are finding it difficult to understand a basic thing that whatever
happens with a woman can happen with a man too.
Everyone is well aware of campaigns like #MeToo, #TimesUp, #IBelieveHer and #Cuéntalo,
where women came out and raised their voices against any sexual conduct which they have faced
expressing their frustration with the justice systems of their respective jurisdictions. But there are
no such popular campaigns which took place in past where safety of men from cases of sexual
conduct was raised. This doesn’t mean that men don’t face these issues but the thing is that they
don’t have trust on the judicial structure as well as they are quite afraid to show up because of
the different stereotypes our society has.

CONCLUSION

2
160 Delhi Law Times 277
This irrational and unjustifiable behavior will only change when the judiciary will look seriously
into this matter and make proper laws so that every individual can be protected from these ill acts
and live freely. Harassment has the equivalent impact regardless of the gender of the victim.
Even if laws are made, it won’t change anything much because society also plays a vital role and
it should go hand in hand with the judiciary. The need for Gender Neutral laws becomes the need
for the hour. Victims of these ill acts often blame themselves for behaving in a way that
encouraged the perpetrator. The toxic mentality of the society needs to be reformed and the truth
should be disclosed and accepted by everyone and the sooner it is done, the better `