“Gender Neutralisation Of Gender Biased Laws In IPC”

Submitted by:

Samar Pratap Singh, B.A. L.L.B (Hons.)

Jyotsana Singh, B.A. L.L.B (Hons.)

Submitted to:

Father Peter Ladis,

Faculty of Criminal Law

This rough draft is submitted in the partial fulfilment in criminal law

for the completion of BA L.L.B course.

29th August 2016

Chanakya National Law University, Patna

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 1. Introduction
“I believe that no country ever stood so much in need of a code as India and I also believe
that there never was a country in which the want might be so easily supplied , Our principle
is simply this — uniformity when you can have it ; diversity when you must have it; but in all
cases certainty.”

—Lord Macaulay; 1833; House of Commons; London

The speaker has put emphasis on the creation of a uniform code for the regulation of the
crimes in the society. This is to bring uniformity in the judgement and justice met in various
cases of similar nature. In one case the offender gets very less punishment while in the similar
case the offender gets imprisonment. It is injustice and nothing else. In our constitution the
article 15 provides the protection against discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, sex and
religion etc. but in IPC itself we can see discrimination in the provisions.

Since, our society being the patriarchal one, the male members did atrocities on the female
counterparts. But the course of time brought many chances in the society. Unfortunately, the
law didn’t get transform according to the need. Previously, the picture was that laws were
made to safeguard the female population from male atrocities. But today women have started
taking undue advantage of the rights given to them by the state. It has become a big problem
for the population. There are many discrepancies which have arisen with time in the system.
This is visible in the new types of offences done by females to the family members, elderly
members of the family and even to the husband or male counterpart. Such crimes or offences
have been done due to certain reasons. This we will encounter while pursing through the
project work.

The purpose of this project is to enlist the provisions which are (in violation of article 15 or)
gender biased and make suggestion to do the necessary changes. There has been many
suggestions regarding amending the very thing in IPC but still the work has not been
accomplished.

2. Objective of the study:

1. The researcher wants to enlist the provisions of IPC which are gender biased and are
being misused.
2. The researcher wants to find the flaws which crept in with the time due to no
amendment done to such provisions with time.
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3. The researcher wants to justify the points raised by the law commissions through
recent cases and wants to suggest a rethink over the provisions.

3. Hypothesis
The researcher thinks that the laws especially provisions relating to several problems
like- dowry and women in IPC are being misused by the girl family against the boy’s
family for extortion of money and property . In some cases it has been seen that the
revenge is also a cause of misusing such provisions. The domestic violence as the
term suggests any kind of violence in the family. But today the law accepts violence
only with the females. There are cases of violence with the aged people in the family.
The laws as being framed from the perspective of safeguarding the interest and
deliver justice to the oppressed. The same purpose is not being served properly. These
all are happening due to the preconceived notion that only women are weak. They are
subjected to cruelty in present time.
4. Research methodology
The researcher will do doctrinal type of research in which he will go through the
primary as well secondary sources. The researcher through this methodology will be
able to get an adjact picture of the problem in question. The doctrinal method helps in
doing a comparative study of the topic. This methodology helps in going through not
only the work of one eminent person but of many other too. This helps in getting the
bird’s eye view of the subject.
To satisfy the need of the project, the researcher will go through section by section
and clause by clause of each section in question. Then, the researcher will cross
checked the commentary of those provisions. This methodology will be the most
effective way in preparing the project.

Prevention, protection and prosecution are the three main areas covered in our third
objective. This involved critical examination of the existing legal framework for
combating dowry and sexual exploitation related offences, including constitutional
provisions, national conventions regarding them. Special emphasis is being laid on
analysing the domestic violence, dowry prohibition act and rape laws with a view to
search for the lacunae that could contribute to the ongoing discussion and
reformulation of the law. The next logical step is to move from identification of
lacunae in the law to the law enforcement process and the role of the police and other
enforcement agencies in protection and prosecution. Prestigious magazines, write ups
and commentaries by eminent persons are read carefully to understand the role of

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 judicial officers, prosecutors, doctors and others concerned. The judicial response and
community response are to be studied.
The researcher has also planned to make a chart showing the data how the provisions
are misused by the opposite sex. The state wise data of false cases out of the total
cases filed will show the actual face of the menace.
The researcher has also planned to make an informative ppt which will primarily
focus on the law commission reports and the Supreme Court decisions which will give
the rationale behind the concept of gender neutralisation of IPC. It will show the
change in the cases before the SC with time.

5. Sources of data collection

The researcher will collect data from both primary as well as secondary sources.

i. The primary sources:

1. NCB crime record
2. Indian penal code
3. Cr Pc.
4. C.P.C
5. Law commission report
ii. The secondary sources are:
1. Magazine
2. Journals
3. Books
6. Limitation of the study:

Since the researcher is a student of law, he has access to a limited area. The researcher
having read the commentary on the IPC could understand the problem clearly but it
would have been clearer if he would have read commentary of more writers. The
researcher has limited time for the project. The historical need and background is also
necessary for having a bird’s eye view of the particular topic and it gets developed
only by effective and extended reading over a long period of time. But the required
materials are not available in our library. The researcher has a restricted access to the
reports of the law commission where the reasons of their work I not available. But
still researcher with his hard work will manage to take out the best possible work.

7. Scope of study:

The research if implemented will stop the influx of the false cases and it will stop the
misuse of these provisions in question. It will also help in strengthening of the

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 institution of marriage. It also bring to light the neglected offences against men. The
misconception that men are not subjected to rape or molestation will be changed.

8. Tentative Chapterisation:
1. Gender neutralisation of IPC : An Introduction
2. Historical background of Gender Biased laws
3. Section wise discussion
4. Cases and their analysis
5. Conclusion, Criticism and Suggestions

Bibliography

 Primary sources:
1. Indian penal code, 1860
2. Law commission report
3. Judgements of Supreme Court
4. Newspaper articles
 Secondary sources:
1. Essays on the Indian Penal Code, ILI, Universal law publishing house, revised by
prof. K.N. Chandrasekharan Pillai
2. Cruelty to husband by P.K. Das
3. The Indian Penal Code by Ram Jethmalani and D.S. Chopra
4. The Indian Penal Code by P.S.A Pillai
5. Indian Penal Code by K.D Gaur