The Ministry of Home Affairs, in its additional affidavit before a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar, said the sections have been enacted after due deliberation and widescale consultations. (Representative Image) The Ministry of Home Affairs, in its additional affidavit before a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar, said the sections have been enacted after due deliberation and widescale consultations. (Representative Image)

The Centre on Wednesday opposed in the Delhi High Court a PIL for making IPC sections pertaining to rape gender-neutral, saying the perpetrators are mostly men and therefore, the legislation has been enacted to check the rising number of sexual offences against women.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, in its additional affidavit before a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar, said the sections have been enacted after due deliberation and widescale consultations.

The ministry was responding to a PIL by Sanjjiiv Kkumaar, who has said that the “IPC 375 and IPC 376, in current form, which is gender specific and not gender neutral, doesn’t secure males and thus doesn’t stand the constitutional test and fails in Right to Privacy”.

The Centre filed an additional affidavit after the court asked it in January to further clarify on actions taken to implement recommendations of the Law Commission of India.

Kkumaar, an activist, had also pointed that as per the recent apex court ruling on Right to Privacy, both male and female have equal protection of law under the Constitution. The petition said no one can claim special privilege if the perpetrator of the crime is a female and she is immune to criminal action.

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