India’s legal system, once built on the promise of justice and equality, is now increasingly skewed by gender-biased laws that presume guilt rather than prove it. In one disturbing case, a 30-year-old man has spent over a year in custody after being accused by a 48-year-old neighbor. Initially charged with non-sexual offences like house trespass and physical harm, the woman escalated the FIR to include rape just days later—virtually guaranteeing his arrest. Since then, she hasn’t even appeared in court, while the man remains behind bars. This is not an exception but a reflection of a larger, systemic issue where men are criminalized based on accusations alone, and due process takes a backseat to performative justice.
Laws like Sections 354 and 498A, originally intended to protect women, are now increasingly being misused as tools for vengeance, blackmail, or leverage. Thousands of men are trapped in endless legal battles, jailed without trial, and stigmatized in society long before any verdict is delivered. The lack of accountability for false accusations is staggering. In the case above, while the accused’s life is in ruins—his career paused, his family devastated—the accuser faces no consequences for her absence in court or the delay in proceedings. The law, in its current form, has become one-sided, and the judiciary’s reluctance to confront this misuse only deepens the injustice.
It’s time to stop romanticizing the idea that every woman is a victim and every man an oppressor. Justice must be rooted in evidence, not ideology. Gender-neutral laws, stricter safeguards against false accusations, and real penalties for misuse are not anti-women—they’re pro-justice. A legal system that protects one gender at the cost of another is not justice; it’s discrimination with legal backing. The silence around this imbalance is deafening, and the longer it continues, the more lives it will destroy. The indian judiciary must recalibrate—urgently.
Laws like Sections 354 and 498A, originally intended to protect women, are now increasingly being misused as tools for vengeance, blackmail, or leverage. Thousands of men are trapped in endless legal battles, jailed without trial, and stigmatized in society long before any verdict is delivered. The lack of accountability for false accusations is staggering. In the case above, while the accused’s life is in ruins—his career paused, his family devastated—the accuser faces no consequences for her absence in court or the delay in proceedings. The law, in its current form, has become one-sided, and the judiciary’s reluctance to confront this misuse only deepens the injustice.
It’s time to stop romanticizing the idea that every woman is a victim and every man an oppressor. Justice must be rooted in evidence, not ideology. Gender-neutral laws, stricter safeguards against false accusations, and real penalties for misuse are not anti-women—they’re pro-justice. A legal system that protects one gender at the cost of another is not justice; it’s discrimination with legal backing. The silence around this imbalance is deafening, and the longer it continues, the more lives it will destroy. The indian judiciary must recalibrate—urgently.
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