The current rape laws exclude a swathe of male victims of sexual assault. Sections 376 and 375 of the Indian Penal Code, which cover rape and its punishment, do not account for and apply to the rape of men. There have been cases of men being raped across India, however, the police register a case under 377 (Unnatural sex) and not Sections 375 and 376, which leads to them being reported less. Male victims refuse to go to the police because they think they will not be believed and the police are not trained to be empathetic towards them, unlike the sensitivity they are tutored to show female victims. People and police and society at large must be sensitised that even men can be raped, brutalised and sexually assaulted. The law needs to be amended to include men.
—Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj, documentary filmmaker, men’s rights advocate
