Gender Neutral Laws: Need of Reforms to Extremist Legislations

Law in its ideal form should not discriminate between a man and woman, but we can see the conduit when it comes to a lot of provisions. Crime can be committed regardless of gender and recently the statistics are in favour of such argument. Generally, sexual offences are gender biased in India due to the historical encounters. The idea of gender neutralism stems to avoid distinguishing gender traits and deliberate assignment of roles to cure gender inequality. Even after the soon to be enactment of the new Code: stalking, voyeurism and sexual harassment would remain gender specific even after continuous deliberations and interruptions by few policy-making institutions of our country. Therefore, it is generally assumed in the case of sexual offences that the perpetrator is a man and victim is a woman. Such violence can be inflicted for several reasons: for satisfaction of lust or desire, to show power and humiliation or dominance of superiority of one section of people over other. It makes the argument for the enactment of gender-neutral laws in order to address the underreported incidents of male harassment and violence through an analysis of cultural conditioning, legislative loopholes, media impact, and judicial viewpoints. The abstract ends by promoting a society devoid of gender stereotypes and discrimination, in which people are treated according to their qualities rather than their gender, so promoting an atmosphere of equality and respect for everyone.