India's attempt to modernize its laws accidentally made it impossible to prosecute certain rapes.
April 17, 2026
Original Paper
Sexual Violence Against Male Prisoners In India: Breaking The Gender Myth Of Rape
SSRN · 6483159
The Takeaway
When India removed Section 377 (which historically criminalized homosexuality), they intended to protect human rights. But they failed to replace it with a gender-neutral law for sexual violence, leaving male prisoners with no legal way to prosecute being raped by other men. A reform that was meant to be a leap forward created a 'legal vacuum' where a horrific crime became effectively unprosecutable. It’s a tragic example of how fixing one historical wrong can create a new, invisible injustice. For the men in these prisons, the law that was supposed to liberate them ended up leaving them defenseless.
From the abstract
Despite constitutional guarantees of equality and dignity, male prisoners subjected to sexual violence in India remain systematically invisible in legal frameworks, institutional responses, and scholarly discourse. This paper critically examines the constitutional and statutory frameworks governing sexual violence against male prisoners, revealing systematic failures rooted in gendered legal definitions, institutional deficiencies, and sociocultural myths about masculine invulnerability. Through