Vishnu Tiwari a man hailing from Lalitpur spent two decades in jail for sexually and physically assaulting a woman pregnant for five months. Seems fair? Yes? Let’s dig deeper. He was arrested in September, 2000 for the charges levied by a woman, her husband and her father-in-law. 20 years hence, the Allahabad High Court acknowledged the case was fictitious and Tiwari was released.
An aspiring engineering student from Chennai was in jail from 2010 to 2016 for a rape case. He was accused of the same by a woman and her family who claimed that he impregnated the woman and then refused to get married. The two involved were to be married but didn’t proceed by virtue of a property dispute. The woman gave birth to a child in February 2010 and the DNA test proved that he wasn’t the father. However, the man was actually acquitted in 2016 by a Mahila court in Chennai.
William E. Gladstone said, “Justice delayed is justice denied.” Did Tiwari or the falsely framed student actually get justice?
Every year thousands of lives are destroyed over such concocted cases. According to statistics by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), an estimate of 74% of rape cases filed end up relieving the accused.
Equality is now a gender-based concept, best suited for frames and books. When we talk about it, we tend to release our minds from thinking about the male population as well. The Indian Constitution is also an example of the same intentional omission. The Indian Penal Code does not put into view any atrocities being met on males. Sexual harassment, gender discrimination, domestic violence, sexual assaults or any such attack for that matter fails to find mention with regard to males.
Fortunately, women in India have started receiving the respect and dignity they always deserved. But we now need to be on the ball for male victims of abuse as well. With the necessary safeguard laws being enacted for women, the male population became sacrificial pawns for some ill-spirited elements. The absence of gender-neutral laws has given an open playing field to corrupted and vicious minds.
Where are we heading as a society if a boon for one becomes a bane for the other? Should rights given for protection be used to bully someone?
Laws ensuring protection of women need to be amended to fortify men from attacks as well. The immediate need is a system which protects women and men are not extorted with false charges. Laws and rights given as shields should not be used like weapons to gratify personal needs and animosity.
