Open any newspaper and the chances of seeing viral news about rape are very high. However, when the same cases are found false after trial no media reports those. All viral news that you might have seen like Badaun Rape case, Rohtak Rape Case, VIBGYOR School rape case and many other rape cases were found false after years of trial but that news either was not published or published in a very small way so that no one other than researchers like us notices.

Added with these, are the bloggers and bloggers networks that very often run special blogging campaigns on rape, how to stop rape etc making it almost indelible from our minds. Some people who get sadistic pleasure out of making these news viral work behind these. Also, such blogs sobbing for women get more publicity and views, so bloggers feel too much bothered about sobbing for rape. None of these bloggers may actually be interested in rape or solving this issue, because if they did they would have first raised their voice against filing everything as rape or molestation. But crying about rape give these bloggers much-needed viewership, so why should they budge?

We know the apex court has dismissed the rape case against Rahul Gandhi and imposed a fine of Rs. 10 lakhs for filing a frivolous case without an iota of evidence.

However, we don’t find the same happening in other Indian rape cases. Extortion in the name of rape complaint is very common and that is why Delhi HC in 2010 rejected quashing of a false case. Many women continue to misuse such laws for their benefit as most of these cases are settled for money and that encourages many to file false cases and earn some easy bucks. In the west, we find that rape laws are gender neutral. However, in India, it is not. This section (IPC 375) starts by saying “A man is said to commit rape…….with a woman” etc. thus assuming that a man only can commit this crime and a woman can only be the victim.

In the definition of rape, this law further states that “Penetration is sufficient to constitute the sexual intercourse necessary to the offence of rape”. It doesn’t specify penetration by any kind or by any specific organ and thus a woman can also be an offender under the definition of the crime (it can be penetration of external objects, fingers etc.). But the legal definition has kept them away by specifying ‘man’ and ‘woman’ instead of ‘person’.

Indian law classifies rape cases against men as ‘Unnatural Sex’ (IPC 377). There had been cases in India of men being sexually assaulted by women however, these cases are not reported by mainstream media and hence people are not aware of any such case existing. Many wouldn’t believe that any woman can actually rape a man.

In recent years, women’s groups are shouting about the increasing number of rape cases. If we look at the relevant NCRB data, we will see that in 2009 out of 21,397 cases registered under IPC 375, only 3,698 cases (17%) had seen a conviction. In 2010 and 2011 the case conviction rate was 17% and 16.8% respectively. So over these three years, there is a drop in genuine rape incidents in India. However, we see 24,206 cases being registered in 2011, a 13% increase in registration of rape cases compared to 2009. This clearly shows that the so-called increase in rape incidents actually is an increase in registering false rape complaints rather than the genuine ones. (NCRB data, data for the crime against women )

It is not that women’s groups or media are not aware of this statistics but still they make a big fuss about it in all national and international forums stating increasing assault on women and thus seeking more protection for them. Some go one step ahead seeking stricter punishment for the offenders.

A recent Tehelka report alleges that such cases are not dealt with proper attention and care and hence the accused easily get away with the crime. They blame that the lackadaisical approach of police in such cases make it impossible to prove the accused guilty and hence they get acquitted.

Whereas any crime needs to be dealt with stern hands and it is the duty of the police to ensure safety and security of the general public and instil confidence in them. Police are also duty-bound not to make any presumptions or stereotyping people. However, what the various videos released by the media showed was a conversation from their experience in different cases where women had consensual sex and later termed the same as rape. There are some extreme comments by police officers are mentioned on the site only to be verified by the supporting context and evidence and hence can’t be commented simply from the written letters (as the audio quality is very poor and we have seen many a times media twist the stories to make them sensational).

This incident in Gurgaon created ripples all over India with people shouting how women are restricted to follow the dress code and not given ‘liberty’ to wear the dress of their choice. Many times these groups/women forget that all of us including men have to follow the certain dress code in public. Men, however, have never voiced their ‘concern’ over that issue.

Also, these women need to understand that the arousal in men and women work differently. Different scientific studies conducted, confirms that men respond more to visual cues like women’s sexy dress etc and women respond more to influence, power and status of men. Men’s arousal is faster and orgasm takes less time (due to certain hormones) compared to women’s arousal and orgasm. That is why women dresses are made more ‘sexy’ to show their curves and men flaunt their expensive cars or accessories to attract the opposite sex.

Some argue that rape is not meeting sexual obsession but it is exhibiting dominance over the other and hence even women can rape men. Under the present ‘Indian’ definition of rape no woman can ever be accused of rape no matter whether the victim is male or female. In a society when we accept same-sex relations and different groups are demanding the legal acceptance of same-sex relations and the same level of rights but women-men/women rape has a long way to go in social acceptance.

Let’s consider the controversial case involving a female athlete in Kolkata.  This case was controversial because her gender was in question. Even though the lady accusing her was having a live-in relation for years she has charged Pinki with rape. We have seen that in the same case NHRC and state women rights groups have moved to Kolkata HC to save her ‘Rights’ and to stop her public humiliation. One wonders when a man is accused in a similar case, why NHRC does not take their issue of saving man’s dignity. We, in fact, see the man’s identity being thrown open in all public domain and he is humiliated openly. Whereas no one here is trying to defend the real criminal what needs to be done is to protect accused identity in all cases, especially when 75% of rape allegations are found false later.

In another case in Park Street earlier, we have seen that initially the victim was accusing completely innocent people of rape and time and again accused that those guys were responsible for the crime. One of them was in Canada at the time of the incident and hence from the beginning, this case seemed to be false. Even though the real criminals were caught later, everyone forgot the pain that the innocent families had to undergo because of constant media focus on them revealing their complete identity. No one ever came forward to save their dignity too. In fact, in a local Bengali TV news channel called them on a live chat show to humiliate them further. They were interrupted and ridiculed when they wanted to place their view. If these false accused families now ask for justice for their defamation, there is a high probability that their case will not be admitted anywhere.

In the Park Street case too, we have seen police making the mistake of stereotyping people only to be thrashed by all concerned. So they wanted to ACT in the female athlete case later, but that again backfired with women groups shouting against police atrocities against the accused who was ‘incidentally’ a woman.

Thus we see that in India, a crime like Rape is always used for mean political gains and different interpretations are made. In Rahul Gandhi case the SC has fined the complainant, but in Park Street case the falsely accused families can’t even think of getting compensation. In one hand we observe accused of around 75% false cases every year not getting any legal recourse and in another case, NHRC takes up the case of a female athlete to save her from humiliation.

In very recent times, Kolkata is rocked with a series of child molestation complaints from schools. If you look at these cases, simply because the male teachers were present in the school on those days, they are being tortured in different ways. In GD Birla case the girl could not identify the accused even in the second round of TI parade. Bengali newspaper reported that the medical report didn’t confirm rape, English newspapers like TOI reported it has confirmed rape. This kind of biased reporting by media makes these cases very shoddy affair. Clearly, feminists want to create this kind of hype in our schools, an attempt that has failed in Bangalore in 2014, (details here) is now being applied in Kolkata. If you dance to this tune of feminist criminals, you will only end up ensuring that no male teacher is selected in schools. Some of your own male relatives may end up without jobs or behind bars.

Today, in rape cases there is no sanity of complaints. Anyone shouting rape, the whole society starts dancing. Foreign paid English media like TOI, NDTV et.al. make this news viral by false reporting, telling lies so that we believe that a lot of rapes are happening. We almost never raise pertinent questions. Coupled with this is educated bloggers and bloggers platforms running campaigns on rape and making it ingrained in every mind.

This double standard prevailing in society is only making a mockery of the victims (both falsely accused and victims of the crime). The pain, the sufferings they undergo laughs at every time a rape case is filed on the flimsy ground just to take revenge. And this trend can only stop if our legal system punishes the false accusers, protect the identity of the accused and brings in speedy justice for the victims, else the politics of rape will continue to ruin many lives.

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