When a girl or a woman is sexually abused, the crime is rightfully classified as rape.

A young boy or an adult man who is sexually abused does not have the right to say he is raped by that same definition. 

A person of any other gender who is sexually violated is not currently classified as a rape victim and has no recourse in our rape laws, against his perpetrator.

Is this fair?

So why is only one gender identified as a victim of rape in law?

The definition of rape is not limited to a particular form of physical abuse. And it should not be limited by the definition of gender.

Men do get raped- and we lost two such men in Tuticorin in June, 2020 tobrapusts and murderers. The brutality the two faced is something even the worst convicts should not face - and these were ordinary men with no history of violence.

The Nirbhaya rape was gruesome, and this case in Tutticorin does not fall short of the same horrors.

Gender neutral rape laws need to become a reality so that society recognizes that all genders are equally vulnerable. 

We the Citizen Volunteers who work for NoRapeIndia have sent an appeal to Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Hon’ble Union Minister of Law to initiate steps in the Parliament of India to amend Section 375, Sections 354A, B, C and D of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 to make rape and sexual violence gender neutral. This is to ensure that those perpetrating such sexual violence against boys, men and other genders too are treated with no less rigour and conviction than those who perpetrate such heinous harm on girls and women.

We must recognize rape for all its violence and consequences, irrespective of gender of the victim or the perpetrator.