The porn industry has become more popular with the advent of the internet and the industry has been fishing in a lot of money. It is now readily available on the internet. Many stores also sell takeaway DVDs at a very high price. This has resulted in a highly profitable industry. The display of such adult content on television or the internet is looked down upon in society. This kind of duplicity has been common in India. In fact, porn is also blamed for the rising count of rapes in India.

According to a 2011 IMRB Survey, one out of every five mobile users in India uses their 3G internet for accessing porn. In fact, over 47 percent of students discuss porn every day, according to a public school survey by Max Hospital in Delhi. These numbers speak volumes about how much the porn industry impacts the lives of people.

Over the years, the education of children regarding sex has always been held as being necessary. However, what people don’t talk about is the toll it takes on certain women and children who end up being the victims of human trafficking. According to Miss Rawal, who is a professional in Delhi said, “Porn belittles women more than anything in the world. Treating females purely as an object for personal sexual satisfaction is all porn ever evinces. I hope it is declared illicit at least in Indian society.”

How Porn and Human Trafficking are Related?

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime defines human trafficking as any situation where an individual is forced, coerced, abducted, deceived, or abused. If any of these qualifiers are present, the situation will be considered human trafficking. Human trafficking takes place on many fronts in the porn industry; although due to the way in which porn is produced and distributed, it can be extremely hard to identify the presence of such trafficking along with its source.

Survivors of sex trafficking are often subjected to many kinds of abuses and more than one form of exploitation. In order to control it, traffickers take incriminating photos of their victims to their family members to shame them more. They also attempt to sell the content by uploading it to mainstream porn sites. In addition, victims are also exploited through prostitution.

In many other cases, victims are exploited solely for the purpose of producing pornographic content.  Many NGOs have been responsible for finding victims of trafficking. These missions have also provided evidence of the existence of such heinous acts. In a very recent rescue known as Operation SCOPE, investigators have seen this type of trafficking first-hand, and they have managed to provide the police with evidence of pornographic content being sold by traffickers.

In the mainstream porn entertainment industry as well, the recruitment and employment of actors have been the result of deception, threats, and drug abuse.

According to research conducted by the Internet Watch Foundation, 95 percent of the nearly 133,000 URLs assessed were hosted on platforms that allow people to create and upload porn.

If a pornographic video of a survivor or victim of trafficking is uploaded to any website, both the uploader and the website profit from it, even though the content is freely available. According to recently collected data, 90 percent of the free porn websites and nearly 100 percent of porn websites that require payment get the content from outside sources. Even if the users are able to upload any sort of porn content for free, the website owners will be able to profit just from the traffic flow that is generated to the website.

The line between legal pornography and human trafficking is very different from each other. There is a thin line between them which gets complicated. Most of the popular porn sites today have been seen featuring illegal content. They even go as far as featuring videos of rape victims.

A recent campaign was launched against Pornhub, which happens to be the largest porn website in the world. Many have joined this movement and advocated that the website be shut down. Pornhub features many cases of human trafficking, including the rape of a 14-year-old girl. They also display child sexual abuse.

Globally, the porn industry is a $97 billion industry where the US accounts for 12 billion of it. In 2017, the International Association of Internet Hotlines (INHOPE) was able to trace certain online child sexual abuse material to over 70 countries in the same year and more than 60 countries in the year 2018. Top porn entertainment companies, like Pornhub, advertised and received a huge amount of content from countries all over the world. Every year, Pornhub manages to release a report that shows the statistics from the top 20 countries. Human trafficking in the porn industry is something that cannot just be isolated to just one location. Sadly, pornography of trafficking survivors have been spread all over the world and are available with only a click.

Human trafficking in the porn industry is very different from the prostitution industry. It is something that is happening every day, but it is not dealt with in a proper way. There are many NGOs that work to find and help such victims of human trafficking. The millions of people who are fighting for the closing of the Pornhub website are also trying to help in their own way. Many women and children are tortured for this. The porn industry isn’t kind to any actors nor are the human traffickers. However, with the help of some NGOs, we can hope to reduce this kind of trafficking.

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It has been brought to notice terms related to female genital mutilation have been used interchangeably in the past and one such term was “female circumcision” that was used because the surgery bore some resemblance to male circumcision. This not only raised questions about the term but also the misleading comparison made with male circumcision. Male circumcision involves removing only part of the foreskin of the penis without impairing sexual function. Male circumcision was carried out to avoid infections and make men superior to women, even with regard to having sexual intercourse. On the other hand, women were forced to undergo such surgery for curbing sexual desires, not keeping in mind the infections and the consequences. This practice experienced by girls is called ‘Clitorectomy’ or ‘Clitoridectomy’ where partial or complete clitoris or even parts of the labia are removed surgically with lifelong side effects, and significant health and sexual impairment. 

The Origin of Female Genital Mutilation

When we look back and try to trace the origin of female genital mutilation, a lot of researches that were held clearly denote that it existed before Islam and Christianity came into being. Some researchers have traced it back to Egypt (5^th Century BC) on the west coast of the Red Sea. There were a few more dots that could be joined to be more assertive about this statement like the Greek papyrus in the British Museum (163 BC) which clearly showed signs of Egyptian mummies of women who went through such surgeries. Strabo, a Greek geographer, on his visit to Egypt in 25 BC reported that circumcision of girls was a tradition widely followed amongst Egyptians. They even gave it an identity of its own by calling it the “Egyptian style”. Curiously, today FGM is referred to as “Pharaonic circumcisions” in Sudan and “Sudanese circumcision” in Egypt!

Four Broad Categories of Female Genital Mutilation

With the establishment of its internationally accepted definition came the differentiation. Hence WHO classified female genital mutilation into four broad categories in 1995 and again in 2007.

• First: Partial or total removal of the clitoris.
• Second: Partial or total removal of the clitoris and labia minora, with or without excision of the labia majora.
• Third: Narrowing of the vaginal orifice by cutting and creating a seal, with or without excision of the clitoris.
• Fourth: Every other harmful procedure of the female genitalia for non-medical purposes like pricking, piercing, and scraping.

Today’s Scenario

Even today as we speak of female genital mutilation we try coming in terms with reality and how gruesome the nature of this ancient practice can be that is still being carried out largely. Looking at the brighter side of the story we find many groups and organizations that have come together to work and eradicate this practice. They purposely made it a point to not refer to it as “Female genital cutting” out of respect for women who have undergone the ritual and do not wish to consider themselves mutilated. It is a highly sensitive issue and no woman wants to feel worse about it than it already is.

Female genital cutting is still prevalent in about 28 African countries, and among a few minority groups in Asia, affecting from 1% of women in countries like Uganda and Cameroon to about 98% of women in other countries such as Sudan. These practices might differ from country to country but the sole motive remains the same, some face limited or controlled forms of cutting in countries like Sierra Leone and others face extreme forms of surgery like Somali regions.

Female genital cutting is illegal in at least 26 of the 28 African countries in which it is practiced, and it has also been made illegal in several industrialized countries where immigrants or refugees from Africa may reside. FGM has no positive health values attached to it but its prevalence proves the value of women being closely intertwined with this tradition. A large number of girls drop out of schools after this procedure as education and schooling is not seen as a necessary part of their lives.

Female genital mutilation laws by country map

India’s Dawoodi Bohra Community

Right when we think India is not one of those countries that we look down upon for practicing female genital mutilation we realise it very much is! Such cruel practices happen not only in tribal societies or distant places like Africa but also by the Dawoodi Bohra community right here in our country. Young girls aged six and seven are regularly having to go through the unbearable pain of such surgeries without realising the impact that it leaves on women, both physically as well as mentally. About two million people belong to India’s Bohra community and between 75-80% of Bohra women are subject to female genital mutilation. The colloquial word for female genital mutilation inflicted on girls is ‘khafz’. The practice is kept secret and hidden from the public eye and media to keep it away from debates, disagreements, and criticisms. The mothers and grandmothers are usually at the epicentre of it to ensure that this practice continues decade after decade.

India does not as yet have a specific set of laws that criminalize FGM, mainly because the government still denies the existence of the practice knowing quite well about what goes on behind closed doors. Despite provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences(PoCSO), the tradition has prevailed for decades together.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, myth-busting or a new law would not mean that all girls are safe. Almost all graphs and surveys fail to capture the real number of women who are subject to gruesome experiences as most of them are not allowed to even have an opinion about it and speak openly about it either. Changing a law alone cannot end the deeply entrenched practices, neither can it tackle questions about whether it can really legislate changes or not. It is often warned that any attempt to challenge such social and religious norms could incite a backlash or outlawing the practice would only drive it underground. As societies become more urban and industrialized, changes take place and bring in new pressures, pressures that require individuals and such communities to re-examine age-old beliefs, question traditional roles and reconsider established priorities with the view to make this world a better place.

Reference(s)

Murray, A., 2013. From Outrage To Courage. Monroe, Me.: Common Courage Press.

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The trans community, owing to their difference in nature, have been seen as a threat to the core foundation of gender in society. Members of the trans community are collectively called hijras. Most people do not understand the meaning of the term hijra and use it in a derogatory sense. They do not get significant jobs because of the perception that they are unable to perform any. Being a parent of a transgender child is considered shameful and members of trans community are not allowed to marry and bear children.

Since most people in the Indian society and the global arena fail to understand the heterogeneity of gender, they see such trans persons as a threat to the traditions and culture and try to remove them from the society. Shunned, these people are not provided with any basic human, political, and civil rights and do not have any access to the necessities. They also have no access to education or healthcare.

The main issue with the Indian Education System is that they don’t facilitate skill acquisition. While moving further up, many students drop out, which creates a learning gap. Trans persons fall under this category. Many trans students are subject to a lot of bullying owing to their nature, which leads them to drop out of schools and colleges or committing suicide. In India, schools and colleges are not sensitive to trans people. The University Grants Commission and the Central and State Education Boards have to make more policies inclusive of them and make sure that these policies are implemented and that the bullying of the trans students is stopped immediately to facilitate their education.

Another benefit that is not accessible to trans people is healthcare. Trans people are often refused care from various health services. They also face harassment and physical attacks in the hospitals which in turn makes them skeptical to take the help of hospitals and doctors. Many are admitted to hospitals and left untreated. This kind of behavior has scared them and forces them to stay away from healthcare institutions. Apart from this, since they are also derived from education, they are unaware of a lot of important health care benefits and treatments that should be accessible to people in general and them.

Besides these, they are constantly ridiculed and discriminated against, which results in identity issues. They also go through a lifetime of poverty and are subject to human trafficking. They are subject to unemployment and homelessness.

Through time, the trans community, after being an integral part of the LGBTQ community, has protested against this injustice and discrimination. This had made the government create some policies and laws for the trans community.

• The Supreme Court of India recognized the third gender along with the primary genders of ‘male’ and ‘female’. This decision has successfully shattered the dual-gender structure of “male” and “female” that is usually recognized by society.
• The Supreme Court has given certain directions for the protection of the rights of the trans persons by including them in documents like the election card, passport, driving license and ration card, and for admission in educational institutions, hospitals, amongst others.
• Articles 15, 16, and 21, do not allow the violation of discrimination on the grounds of gender.
• The Court recognized the right of an individual to choose how to behave in private and allowed them the means needed to reach their full potential. The Court noted that a person will not realize his abilities and interests if he is forced to accept a gender assigned to him at birth. He should thereby be given the freedom to choose for himself to reach his full potential.
• The Court also protects an individual’s gender expression invoked by Article 19 (1) (a). It upholds that “no restriction can be placed on one’s appearance or choice of dressing subject to the restrictions contained in article 19(2) of the Constitution”.
• Human rights were awarded to them which includes the right to life, liberty, equality, dignity, and freedom of thought and expression.
• The decriminalization of Section 377 of IPC is also a colossal step for solving transgender issues.

The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019 was passed on November 26, 2019, by the Parliament. It is the revised version of the Bill that was passed in 2016 and 2018. The previous Bills were heavily criticized for various reasons, one being that they were not at par with the Supreme Court judgment in National Legal Services Authority. The 2019 Bill attempted to define someone whose gender does not match the one assigned at birth. This bill included transgender persons in the Constitution, thereby including them in our society and providing them with legal human rights. It also prohibited any kind of discrimination and harassment based on an individual’s gender.

The provisions of this bill are:

• It recognizes the 3rd gender after the Supreme Court ruled in the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) judgment that the third gender should be legally recognized.
• It defines a transgender as someone who is partly female or male or a combination of female and male or neither female nor male. It advocates that the person’s gender must not match the gender assigned at birth. It includes trans-men, trans-women, persons with intersex variations, and gender-queers.
• The government must provide the necessary support, like rehabilitation, self-employment, and healthcare.
• The bill prohibits discrimination and harassment against members of trans community and protects them from any kind of violence.
• A strict penalty has been assigned against discrimination, either in public or in private.
• It holds that the members of the trans community must obtain identity proof which is provided by the district magistrate (DM) on the recommendations of medical experts, government officials, and one other transgender.
• A National Council for transgenders is to be set up to protect their interests.

In time, many states have taken certain measures to make the lives of transgenders easy. Some of them are:

• Odisha categorized transgenders under the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category which now enables the community to avail of socio-economic benefits, which might otherwise be out of their reach.
• Tamil Nadu constituted the Aravanis Welfare Board in 2008 for providing a pension for the community.
• Kerala came out with a Transgender Policy to help transgenders.

This bill too has been criticized by many and has been a topic of debate and discussion.

The reason why the Transgender Protection Bill was due to the efforts of the LGBTQ Community whose aim was to ensure equality in our society. Yes, this monumental change of the Supreme Court acknowledging the transgenders as any other human is celebratory but we cannot forget that in a world of trillions, some people who do not understand or accept anything other than the binary ideals of gender still walk the earth and attempt to make the lives of such people difficult. Even though the Constitution has passed the Protection of Rights Bill, many civil servants refuse to help transgenders and indulge in violent activities because they do not accept the bill or the existence of such persons. Members of the trans community are still subject to the same amount of harassment as before, if not more. 

Members of the transgender community such as Revathi and Lakshmi Narayan Tripathi have openly spoken about their struggles in their autobiographies to show the world the kind of harassment that every transgender person has to face in today’s world. While many succumb to these inhuman challenges, people like Lakshmi and Revathi have not only fought their battles but are now helping millions of other transgender’s fight as well. Many non-profit organizations have also dedicated themselves to help such people. The usage of terms such as “coming out” or using the term as a hijra only for insults, shows the deep-rooted hatred for such people among us and while many transgenders are moving up in society, the social issues that they face since birth are still probable in society. While the mindset of people is slowly changing, whether a complete change will ever be possible is a point of debate among scholars today. As citizens of India, we should all accept this natural entity even if we fail to understand the mechanisms of it.

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Kulbhushan Jadhav is a retired navy officer of India. He was arrested by Pakistan on 3^rd March 2016 on the suspicion that he was a spy sent by India. India received the news on 25^th March which was after a delay of 22 days. India asserted that Jadhav who was carrying on a business in Iran after retirement was abducted and falsely charged on the grounds of ‘terrorism and espionage’. In April 2017, The military court of Pakistan awarded the death sentence to Jadhav. After this judgement by the Pakistan court, India approached ICJ asking for consular access to Jadhav and challenging the sentence by the Pakistan court. 

Senior Advocate Harish Salve was the lead counsel in the case from India at the Heage based ICJ. In July last year when the ICJ pronounced its judgement, it asked Pakistan to ‘review and reconsider’ its decision on death sentence and allow India access to Kulbhushan without any delay. However, in an online meeting this year Harish salve from London said that India needs to decide as to whether it wants to go back to ICJ for consequential remedies as Pakistan has failed to comply with the judgement. To this Pakistan Spokesperson, Aisha Farooqi replied that Pakistan has complied with the judgement and is firm on continuing to do so as the case proceeds further, she also stated that they have granted consular access and are reviewing the death sentence. 

WHAT IS THE KULBHUSHAN CASE?

Kulbhushan Jadhav is an Indian retired navy officer who is on death row in Pakistan. His father is a retired Mumbai police officer, his family resides in Mumbai and includes his two children and wife. He is charged on grounds of sabotage and espionage activities against Pakistan at the command of Indian Intelligence agency. India refuses to accept the allegations. 

Pakistan claims that Jadhav was arrested by Pakistan officials in Balochistan on 3^rd March 2016, where he entered using a fake passport which showed his name as Hussain Mubarak Patel. While India maintains that he was abducted from Iran, where he was carrying on business after he was retired from the Indian navy. India got the news about his detention on 25^th March, which was after 22 days from detention. After a month of his arrest, a video was released by Pakistan in which Jadhav was shown confessing that he’s a spy from India and had been carrying out activities in Balochistan and Karachi, still working with the Indian navy. The video was condemned by India. 

When Pakistan denied consular access to Jadhav under article 36 of the Vienna Convention and its military court sentenced him to death, India approached ICJ against Pakistan’s judgement and requested the release of Jadhav. On 17^th July 2019, the ICJ allowed consular access to Jadhav but denied his release. It ordered Pakistan to reconsider the death sentence. Consular access was allowed by Pakistan and Indian officer met Jadhav in Pakistan on 2^nd September 2019.

SALIENT FEATURES OF THE JUDGEMENT

ICJ pronounced the judgement in India’s favour with a ratio of 15:1. Some of the salient features of the Judgement are:

Admissibility– The court denied Pakistan’s objection on the admissibility of the matter, based on Article I of the Vienna convention whereby compulsory settlement of disputes to the Vienna Convention on consular access of 24^th April 1963 is provided. The court in a ratio of 15:1 said that the claim of non-admissibility by the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is not valid and India can access the court. 

Breach of obligation by Pakistan– The court said that Pakistan has breached its obligation incumbent upon it by Article 36 paragraph 1(b). It did not inform Kulbhushan about his right under article 36 and thereby deprived India of its right to consular access to the Individual Concerned. 

Deprived India of its Right– By not allowing India to have communication with Jadhav and denying access, Pakistan deprived India of its right to meet Jadhav and arrange Legal Representative for him and thereby breached Article 36, paragraph 1 (a) and (c) of Vienna Convention on Consular Access. 

Pakistan under Obligation to inform Jadhav without any delay about his right under Article 36 of the Vienna Convention. 

Review and Reconsideration– The court observes that Pakistan needs to review its decision, through its choosing, to ensure that weight is given to the violation under article 36 while taking into consideration article 139, 145 and 146 of the Vienna convention. 

Essential stay– The court said that the stay on execution is essential for the effective review and reconsideration by Pakistan. 

DEVELOPMENTS AFTER JUDGEMENT

Indian counsel in the Kulbhushan case on 3^rd may 2020 said that they are hoping to persuade Pakistan to release Jadhav from the backchannel on humanitarian grounds or whatever they want to call it, we want them to let him go. Salve commented that India might consider going back to ICJ due to non-compliance of the order by Pakistan; However, Pakistan on Sunday denied the allegations made by salve and said they are baseless and inaccurate. Pakistan’s spokesperson said that it is ‘regrettable’ that salve made statements which misrepresent facts adding that Pakistan has complied with all international obligations. 

Pakistan on 14^th may say that it is taking necessary steps to review the case as per the directions of ICJ and has already granted consular access to India.  On 16th of July, Pakistan allowed India consular access to Jadhav, which as per the officials was neither meaningful nor credible. On 7th August, Pakistan court constituted a three-member bench in response to the petition filed by the government to appoint a representative for the death row prisoner. The decision came after the Islamabad high court passed the directions to set up a larger bench to hear the dispute. The next hearing on the case is scheduled on 3rd September. The developments come after an argument between the foreign spokesperson of Pakistan and India, while the former claimed that India has been communicated through diplomatic means to appoint a lawyer for Jadhav the latter denied receiving any such communication. A spokesperson from the ministry of external affairs said that Pakistan is not only violating ICJ’s judgement but its own ordinance too.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

`India and Pakistan share this long history. Amidst this, when an Indian retired officer was arrested by Pakistan on charges of espionage chaos took place. While Pakistan says that Jadhav is a spy, India maintains its stand that he was abducted by them from Iran where he was carrying business activities post-retirement. When the Pakistan court sentenced Jadhav to the death penalty, India decided to approach ICJ. India argued at ICJ that it had been denied consular access and was notified about the arrest 3 weeks later, it also put forth the request that kulbhushan is released by Pakistan. While ICJ directed Pakistan to review its decision it denied India’s request to order the release of kulbhushan. ICJ acknowledged the fact that Pakistan violated the International norms of consular access and did not inform Jadhav about his rights; Conviction and detention of Jadhav are not violative of Article 36 of Vienna convention as per ICJ. Appeals and Review petitions are not allowed on ICJ verdicts. After the verdict, Pakistan has assured that it will comply with ICJ’s judgement. On 2^nd September Pakistan allowed consular access to India and an Indian diplomat met Jadhav at the Pakistan jail for an hour, the entire proceeding was recorded in the presence of Pakistan officials; India contended that Jadhav seemed to be under immense pressure. India is demanding independent access to Jadhav because the capital punishment was awarded to him in a secret trial therefore, any information from Jadhav can help India. 

The Vienna Convention was signed to regulate diplomatic relations. A consular access treaty was also signed in the year 1963. The treaties were formed under the auspices of the United Nations. Once India is granted Independent access, it can arrange the best legal service for Jadhav allowed under Pakistan laws. Since the Pulwama attack tensions have been there between the two countries. After India struck down Article 370, new tensions have developed. Pakistan by holding a free and fair trial can ease the tensions. If a civil court conducts the trial help can be provided but if the military court continues to govern the case little can be done. If Pakistan denies following ICJ’s verdict, India might severe diplomatic relations and use International pressure, but all these measures must be used cautiously to maintain peace. 

CONCLUSION

The ICJ has given its verdict, Both countries have assured to follow the judgement. While Pakistan granted consular access to India, it was not entirely free from control. From the statements delivered by Harish salve, it seems that India might approach ICJ once again to remind Pakistan about the judgement. In reply to statements given by Advocate Salve, Pakistan’s spokesperson said that the statements are false and misrepresent the facts, and assured that Pakistan is following up with the verdict and will continue to abide by further pronouncements as the case proceeds. India’s co-operation would be required to ensure justice, thus both countries need to mutually co-operate to conclude. 

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Relativism and Universal Human Rights

Normative cultural relativism, stemming from moral relativism, is the belief that there are no universally valid moral principles and that moral correctness varies from society to society. In principle, this theory seems ideal and befitting for all. However, the main limitation of this theory lies in the very principle that no individual/society can then be held accountable for any ethical or human rights violations they commit since they are the sole arbiters of those beliefs. One of the most extreme cases of normative cultural relativism would be the Holocaust and how it can not be considered unethical due to the sheer difference in societal principles of morality. 

Leading from this very theoretical debate arises an obstacle to curate a universal framework for human rights conduct to be followed by states. With an increasingly globalised state of world order and the involvement of states in inter-governmental forums, the need for a universal framework for the code of human rights is essential. Complex interdependence and the ability of states to intervene in the affairs of other states have made a universal guideline necessary. More importantly, the acceptance of such frameworks that meet the common ground with varied cultures is essential for states to implement them. 

Universal or Western?

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is one of the most sought after frameworks of human rights that have been put into effect by the UN as a method to enable the accessibility to human rights. Although the UDHR does not base itself off of any specific culture, it is often looked at as a westernised idea of human rights. 

The thematic grounding of the UDHR is based on the individual with a focal point on individual rights. The idea of community and society relating to one’s rights is not an idea that has been explored or demonstrated in it. The neglect towards a utilitarian approach in this framework makes it unfitting for cultures that believe in a communal approach instead of an individualistic one. Analogously, Asian societies are based on the heterogenous communal approach, often built on the foundation of religion. This lays special emphasis on the importance of a family unit and the idea of societal unity. 

Western countries have often been held accountable for practicing cultural imperialism, especially after the end of colonialism, cultural dominance through indirect channels became a mode of asserting supremacy. The deviation from the Asian perspective further reinforces the practice of cultural imperialism and puts the entire framework of the UDHR up for question on the grounds of western power play and the imposition of western beliefs through international forums, masked as a way to contribute to the greater good. 

Examining the approaches to universal rights, it is safe to deduce that the need for them is imperative and needs some aspects of moral absolutism to put the same into effect. However the acceptance and inclusion of all cultures need to be viewed as an equivalent of the former reason stated, pertaining to cultural relativism, and due to the absolute presence of diversity in cultures. 

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Current Economic Inequality

While economic growth has certainly been witnessed in the region, the growth has been worryingly unequal. Recently, with the growth of digitalisation and improvements in technology, while productivity has increased, there has been a trend to favour capital over labour. This has contributed to income equality, which is exacerbated by another trend of favouring skilled labour over unskilled labour. Most ASEAN countries are currently stuck in a middle-income trap. 

The data from ASEAN countries is surprising – they all score highly on the Gini Index, which is used to measure economic inequality. Among all ASEAN countries, Thailand scores the worst. According to the Bank of Thailand’s research institute – the Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research – Thailand’s 36 per cent of corporate equity is held by just 500 people, while they have a population of about 69,625,582 people. The average yearly household income of these people is around US$10,000. But in stark contrast to this meagre amount, the aforementioned 500 reap around 3.1 billion baht (US$102 million) per year in company profits. 

Economic Inequality and Political Instability

Economic inequality can lead to political turmoil and therefore threaten the peace and security of the region. Unmet expectations can lead to a lead to a dissatisfied voters’ base. Such a voters’ base is likely to vote for populist governments or cause civil unrest. Rattana Lao, lead author of a study by the Asia Foundation called Thailand’s Inequality: Myths and Reality of Isan said that “Research has shown that one of the leading indicators that pushed people toward political turmoil and protest is the fact that they are not satisfied with their economic condition and the uneven treatment that they receive.”

A crucial realisation that fails to be accounted for in most discussions surrounding economic inequality is that regional disparities also constitute as a worry. Specifically, when talking about political instability, people from poorer regions rely more on government supports and can have unrealistic expectations from their governments. These people are more likely to be engaged in politics and hence can determine voting outcomes. The dissatisfaction of electors can turn into a series of protests, as witnessed in the case of the Arab Spring. 

Thomas I. Parks, the Country Representative for Thailand at The Asia Foundation writes in regard to the aforementioned report, “The challenge now for Thai leaders is to find the best mix of programs and policies and stick to them. In the coming years, the government must carefully monitor and evaluate the results of its policies and programs, and the lessons learned, and then make adjustments whenever needed.” Regional disparities and the level of income inequality has to dictate policies if governments want to avoid civil unrest. 

Economic Inequality and Hindrance to Trade

Unfortunately, income inequality goes beyond political instability. Persistent-income inequality can significantly impede growth and weaken demand, therefore affecting trade and ASEAN’s goal of economic integration. Believers of trickle-down economics are proven wrong if we look at the experience of ASEAN countries. According to the International Monetary Fund, if the income share of the top 20 per cent increases by 1 per cent, we witness an associated 0.08 percentage point decrease in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the next 5 years.

There is a clear correlation between economic equality and sustainable economic growth. Policy measures need to strive for equal access to resources and opportunities, otherwise, we may witness some sort of economic growth, but it will only be limited and unsustainable. Economic development, which is what countries should strive for, includes sustainable growth – and it is only possible when there is an overall economic upliftment of everyone in society.

Moreover, ASEAN’s goal of promoting trade in the region is affected when we look at the driving factors of income inequality. Factors that have been identified as contributors include globalisation and warped fiscal policies of governments. For example, Multinational Companies (MNCs) do not pay proper taxes which helps them retain profits but also indirectly takes away crucial funding from government schemes, and therefore this help never reaches the poor. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Chief Economist, Laurence Boone said: “At the global level, we must ensure that firms pay their fair share of taxes to create value and employ people.” On the one hand, it is impossible to reject globalisation due to the adverse damage it would do to trade, but on the other hand, it is crucial to make sure the benefits of globalisation are reaped by everyone. Similarly, fiscal policies of countries cannot seek to just remove income inequality – they need to be in line with ASEAN’s policies of economic integration (and therefore, globalisation). In these aspects, ASEAN needs to make sure that it’s member countries remain in tune with its agenda, while at the same time make sure that income inequality is eradicated. 

Conclusion

Both the main objectives of ASEAN are put in jeopardy with the context on economic inequality. In fact, having one objective threatened also affects the other – for example, political instability also disincentivizes people to invest and drives down economic growth. Similarly, slow trade and economic growth leads to resentment amongst the people, and therefore political instability. Ultimately a dangerous cycle can form.

Political instability reduces the likelihood of proper collaboration on an effective economic agenda and trade policies. Frequent regime changes and different leaders might essentially make ASEAN’s goal of proper and effective economic integration difficult to achieve. This, in turn, will lead to poor economic policies, followed by low and unsustainable growth fuelling economic inequality. Economic inequality and hindered trade by creating dissatisfaction amongst citizens will again lead to continued political instability and fragmentation.

In order to make sure that officials’ capacity to implement proper trade policies is not undermined, it becomes crucial to recognise the real-life impact of income inequality and understand the disastrous affects it can have on just numbers and figures of growth, but in lifting people’s social class and living standard. ASEAN’s objective of a better region is threatened by the security risks that economic inequality poses. For example, the recent coronavirus pandemic also disproportionately will affect the poor. In situations such as these, economic equality and consequently equitable access to resources (healthcare, information, a steady source of income etc.) becomes a priority. Poverty and economic gaps don’t just make it tougher for people on the lower end to recover, it also makes every situation tougher for a nation to escape from, and therefore also makes it tougher for a regional entity such as ASEAN. 

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When we talk about India, we do have a provision for abortions, sections 312-316 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the provisions of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971 covers the abortion laws in India. The IPC sections 312-316 criminalise abortion; “the person undertaking the abortion as well as the doctor (or registered medical practitioner) facilitating the abortion are liable to be prosecuted.”

The government of India, though in 1971, enacted the MTP Act as an exception to the IPC. The act was enacted to exempt medical experts from the criminal obligation on the condition that they terminate the pregnancy as per sections 3 and 5 of the act. The prelude to the act expresses that it is, “An act to provide for the termination of certain pregnancies by registered medical practitioners and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.” Therefore this whole system of legal abortion is doctor centric and prescribes abortion in specific circumstances.

The Proposed Amendment 2020

The MTP act was enacted in 1971 and hence the law needed changes, activists in India for the last decade have been pushing for legislative changes to the law.

The central cabinet’s sanction of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill 2020 was reported on January 29. According to Prachin Kumar, “The amendment was long due and has made some anticipated changes demanded by women’s groups and courts, including the Supreme Court.”

Vrinda Grover in her column for the Hindustan Times wrote in March, that it’s a welcome amendment. She further states that the bill among other things, “proposes to place an unmarried woman and her partner at par with a married woman and her husband, in securing abortion due to contraceptive failure.” This is an idea that carries forward the rationale of the domestic violence act. The law on domestic violence makes no distinction between the rights and protections available to a married woman or a woman who is in a live-in relationship.

The Press Information Bureau on 29th January 2020 published the amendment, it stated that “The salient features of this act is enhancing the upper gestation limit from 20 weeks to 24 weeks for special categories of women which will be defined in the amendment to the MTP rules and would include vulnerable women, including survivors of rape, victims of incest and other vulnerable women like differently-abled women and minors.”

The MTP (amendment) bill still requires or rather proposes that a doctor sign off on termination of pregnancies up to 20 weeks old, and two doctors do the same for pregnancies between 20-24 weeks old.

The bill also intends to expand access to “safe and legal abortion services on therapeutic, eugenic, humanitarian or social grounds”, in case of foetal “abnormalities”. The proposed amendment makes it mandatory for the government to set up a medical board in all the states  and union territories. The responsibility of the board will be for the diagnosis of substantial foetal “abnormalities” that need termination after 24 weeks.

These are some of the proposed changes in the law. Now although there are certain good points in the amendment, a lot of activists think that this amendment missed to address some of the important issues.

Criticism of the Amendment

Shampa Sengupta in an online session organised by the Centre for Health Law, Ethics and Technology at Jindal (CHLET), Global Law School, Sonipat, strongly objected to the language used by the PIB in its announcement of 29th January 2020 regarding the amendment. “It’s not from the department that looks into the disability affairs.. But that does not mean you can use a word as ‘differently-abled’, it is not legally accepted in our country”, said Sengupta about the announcement.

Dr. Aqsa Shaikh in the same series of sessions organised by the CHLET said that it’s very unfortunate that it took almost 50 years for the government to realize that the MTP Act needed some changes. According to her, these changes are still insufficient, stakeholders have not been consulted, and a very patriarchal approach has been adopted. Shaikh further stated that “Under the MTP, the pregnant person does not have a choice, the person must seek permission. If the permission is granted then the doctor will conduct the procedure, else, the doctor will not. So that approach has to change.”

Tejasvi Savekari of Saheli Sangh in the session pointed out that during this Covid-19 pandemic, and because of the resultant lockdown, a lot of abortion cases have been seen. In most of these cases, safe abortions could not be done because of a lack of access to safe abortions.

She raised a very valid question, “who will take responsibility for this? Instead of simplifying the system, the law is making it more complicated. Firstly one has to take permission from two registered doctors and then from the medical board. So much time will be lost in all this, so will a woman be able to get a safe abortion done? Does she not have a right over her own body? Is she not capable enough to make her own decisions?” She asserted the fact that there are absolutely no answers to these questions. She said that it’s unfortunate that the law had no consultation and it saw no protest at all.

Sex Workers and Their Plight

The life of a sex worker is not easy. There are various stereotypes associated with the profession and the sex workers have to deal with stereotypes when it comes to their abortion rights as well. Kiran Deshmukh of National Network of Sex Workers CHLET session revealed that sex workers are always treated unfairly and are discriminated most of the time.

Deshmukh said that when a sex worker is pregnant and when she goes to a civil hospital, the staff of the hospital does not treat her well because they know that she is a sex worker. The strong stereotype that a sex worker can’t have a child is visible in the actions of the hospital staff. According to Deshmukh, matters get worse when a pregnant person is also HIV positive. Then that person is discriminated against more than anyone else. She stated that “we consider this form of discrimination as violence and this violence will not end till we do not collectivize. Collectivizing is very important if we want to fight against this violence. The womb is mine, it is my right to decide to continue or to terminate the pregnancy. But the doctors do not listen to us, especially in civil hospitals.” She further added, “when we collectively say the same thing, they have to listen to us, and provide us services because the power of a finger is different from the power of a fist.”

The government has not taken into account the problems of the sex workers as is clear from Deshmuk’s statement and above discussed amendments.

No Consideration for Differently Abled

The proposed amendments have not given due consideration to the needs of the differently-abled persons. Rupasa Malik of CREA is of the view that proposed amendments to the MTP Bill 2020 are limited and that it, in no way, reflects the ‘transformative changes’ which are vital to the MTP Act which is extremely dated. Malik said, “there exists this idea that all women and girls with disabilities are asexual and, therefore, what is the need for even thinking about them in this context of abortion access?”

Shivangi Agrawal of Determined Art Movement, in another session organised by the CHLET on the topic ‘A Disability Rights Perspective on Abortion: A Nuanced Understanding’, said “When I first read the MTP Amendment, it said to me that disabled people are irrational for having lives, for existing in the world. I feel like the government has continuously ignored disabled activities and they do not value the decision-making capacity that disabled people have.” She further added, “I feel like this bill encompasses the idea that providing for disabled people is too much.”

Dipika Jain in her column in TheWire mentioned about the ‘abnormalities’. She wrote “disability rights advocates have argued that foetuses with potential disabilities should not be singled out for abortions. This reinforces the notion that persons with disabilities have less value than persons without disabilities, and that all fetuses with ‘abnormalities’ should be terminated. It should be the sole discretion of the pregnant person, in consultation with their doctor, to carry a pregnancy to full term or to abort, even if the foetus has a potential disability, cognitive impairment and/or other medical conditions.

Conclusion

Abortion is a matter of rights of a woman. Even the Supreme Court of India has recognized that in the landmark case of 2009, Suchita Srivastava v. Chandigarh Administration. The court said, “There is no doubt that a woman’s right to make reproductive choices is also a dimension of ‘personal liberty’ as understood under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. It is important to recognise that reproductive choices can be exercised to procreate as well as abstain from procreating. The crucial consideration is that a woman’s right to privacy, dignity and bodily integrity should be respected.”

In 2017 in the case of Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India, the SC identified privacy as a fundamental right under the Indian Constitution. The right to privacy within its scope includes the rights to bodily integrity, reproductive choice and decisional autonomy. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud cited the landmark 2009 case Suchita Srivastava v. Chandigarh Administration, in the Puttaswamy case.

It’s unfortunate that even after such decisions, the proposed amendments continue to maintain the original paternalistic doctor-centric framework of the MTP Act. The decision to terminate is still in the hands of the doctor and not the pregnant person. This needs to change.

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Confinement in homes, and lack of steady incomes, seems to have been fostering tensions and frustration in households and strain due to concerns over health and security. The lockdown is also putting women in isolation with violent partners, with nowhere to turn to for help. In India, the National Commission for Women has reported a 200 per cent increase in the reporting and stress call numbers of domestic violence on their helpline in the month of June alone.

Even before the lockdown was imposed, domestic violence was one of the most prevalent violations of human rights and a key impediment to the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with one in three women have experienced it at some point in their lives. Economist Amartya Sen has estimated in 1990 that more than 100 million women are ‘missing’ — that includes those that never lived because of sex-selective abortions and infanticide, child neglect and maltreatment. That number was revised in 2015 to 136 million – this just shows how females have been subject to violence, at times even before they are born, at an alarmingly high rate.

Furthermore, it is essential to address that violence against women not only affects individuals, but also households, families and communities. However, the only way to change this stark reality is to hold the aggressors accountable and ensure that the problematic social norms that perpetuate the instances of violence are also tackled in an inclusive manner. The SDGs act as an apt framework to work off of, in order to shape a violence-free world – here’s how:

SDG 1: No Poverty

Women’s work – in agriculture, in communities, and at home, fuels economies and yet, isn’t regarded as ‘economic activity’. The exposure of females to incessant discrimination and mistreatment at the workplace makes them vulnerable and susceptible to gender-based violence. Women and girls are four per cent more likely to live in poverty and poor living conditions, a risk that rises up to twenty-five per cent as we factor-in other inequalities. Financial independence for women creates new opportunities and avenues for them to reject typical gender norms and leverage independence against violent partners. It also helps them to create a mentality of freedom and a sense of self for themselves. As a result, the reduction in poverty proves to be a catalyst towards enabling women in societies.

SDG 4: Quality Education

An estimated 246 million girls and boys experience school-related violence every year and one in four girls say that they never feel comfortable using school washrooms, according to a survey on youth conducted across four regions by the United Nations. Quality education is essential to ending violence against women. Educated girls are more likely to make their decisions towards family planning and managing finances, it is fundamental for the development of aspirations and skills, and children of educated women are more likely to have been safeguarded against malnutrition and illiteracy. Educational exposure also enables women to get access to leadership and decision-making opportunities. Hence, it propels them into a cycle of development that helps them create barriers to economic violence at home or in their communities.

SDG 5: Gender Equality

According to a 2018 report by United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in India, 18 per cent of women and girls aged between 15 and 49 years of age have experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner or family member in the past twelve months. Further, someone is known to them – every day kills more than 137 women around the world. These figures represent a fraction of the discrimination against women in terms of opportunities, wealth, inheritance, safe access to public spaces, lack of decent work, and safe and healthy environments of living, learning, working, and engaging with their communities. These inequalities leave them extremely vulnerable to gender-based violence.

SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

Unsafe and poor working environments affect women regardless of their age, location, income, careers, or social standing. As of 2020, 18 countries have laws that enable husbands in preventing their wives from going to work. UN Women estimates that the economic costs of violence and harassment amount to US$12 trillion every year. As of 2018, 59 countries do not have laws protecting women from sexual harassment in the workplace. Economic growth cannot be achieved without the inclusion of women and their contribution to sustainable development in an empowering work environment.

SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

In developing countries, concerns of safety and restricted access to public transport reduce the probability of women participating in the labour market by 16.5 per cent. As the processes of urbanization and industrialization catch up to tier two and tier three cities, the UN estimates that more than 5 billion people will reside in cities by 2030. This becomes an essential notion to address in the light of crimes against women that are prevalent in most urban regions. Further, there is widespread human rights abuse in many industries, such as fast fashion, many of which employ women in majorities. Women may be subject to exploitation in such circumstances and need to be safeguarded against such instances.

SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

In 37 countries, rape perpetrators are exempt from legal prosecution if they are married to, or subsequently marry the victim. Improving access to justice for survivors, and strengthening the legal framework against violators is an essential step towards making justice accessible for women – be it against violence, sexual misconduct at the workplace, or any crime against them. It is further imperative for women to mobilize and advocate support for their personal rights and those of their communities. This can be done digitally, individually, or at any level.  

Conclusion

At this point in time, COVID-19 is already testing humanity in unprecedented capacities. The shadow pandemic that we have had to face additionally is a mirror to the kind of societies we have built for ourselves so far. As we emerge from the pandemic, we must renew the outlooks towards inequalities and factor them into our responses to create a more equitable and sustainably sound world.

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Modern Genocide

Since the summer of 2017, we have been hearing frequently from the world media and human rights organisations, appalling reports of ginormous internment of people. Most of them who have been arbitrarily detained are Uyghur (a primarily Turkic-speaking Muslim minority ethnic group), Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang). According to the latest Chinese census, the population of Uyghurs is about 12 million. However, sources indicate that their population is undercounted by the Chinese authorities.

Since 2017, eight hundred thousand to two million Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minorities have vanished into an extensive network of “re-education camps”. Forcing the detainees to repudiate Islam and espouse the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) seems to be the ultimate goal for the government. Former detainees reported mandatory classes where they were required to recite Communist slogans and praise the CCP. Some reported the rampant presence of cameras and microphones without any blind spots monitoring their every move. Women have shared stories of sexual abuse, forced abortions and having contraceptive devices implanted against their will.

Initially, China denied the existence of such camps. But once evidence started to mount with pictures, videos and testimonies, they changed their narrative and asserted that these internment camps were “vocational education centers” designed to help young, unemployed people in Xinjiang to learn job skills and the Chinese language, concealing the fact that the middle-aged population is almost wiped out in southern Xinjiang. Till date, China doesn’t accept that any human rights violation is taking place. It holds that the purpose of the camps is to get rid of the environment that breeds terrorism and religious extremism.

Outside of the camps, Uyghurs have continued to suffer from a long clampdown by Chinese authorities. Surveillance is intrusive and ubiquitous making it one of the most heavily surveilled police state in the world. Muslims are being forced to accept Communist Party officials in their homes, effectively extending state surveillance everywhere. 1.1 million local government officials have been stationed to spend about a week every two months living in the home of a Uyghur host family. It is referred to as the “Pair Up and Become Family” campaign. Additionally, each square has a police station that closely monitors the locals through regularly scanning their ID cards and searching their mobile phones.

Fleeing out of China is not enough to escape the rule of CCP. In 2017, Uyghurs worldwide reported being contacted by Chinese police and were ordered to return home. Those who obeyed often disappeared and those who did not, received calls from family members begging them to repatriate for the fear of detention. It also coerced many countries into returning Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minority groups to China. In 2015, Thailand returned nearly 100 Uyghurs. In July 2017, Egyptian authorities deported two dozen Uyghurs, who instantaneously disappeared on arrival in China. In some cases, like Malaysia, foreign governments resisted Chinese pressure, often through the support of the United States and refused to return Uyghur individuals.

The Organ Scandal

China announced that it had performed the first double transplant on a 59-year-old after her lungs failed due to coronavirus. The fact that the patient had to wait for merely five days for a donor to provide a perfectly matching set of lungs while the world’s waiting time for a single lung could be months and even years, raises doubts about the legitimacy of the organ harvesting program. These suspicions are being raised because China has a voluntary donor rate of only 0.6 per one million citizens. Of the 1.5 million Chinese citizens who are in need of an organ transplant donor each year, only 10,000 receive a successful match, according to the Journal of Biomedical Research.

The Final Judgement of Independent Tribunal Into Forced Organ Harvesting from Prisoners of Conscience in China given on 1^st March 2020 declares, “Forced organ harvesting has happened in multiple places in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and on multiple occasions for a period of at least 20 years and continues to this day,”. The judgment further states that, “Falun Gong practitioners in detention were systematically subjected to blood tests and organ examinations. Dr Trey, an (expert) witness raises the question ‘Why would detained Falun Gong practitioners receive specific physical examinations (including X-Ray, ultrasound and blood tests) while at the same time being subjected to brainwashing, labour work, torture or torture death?’ He postulates that the only rational explanation is to build up a systematic medical databank of potential living organ donors.” On the basis of all the evidence on the subject, the Tribunal concluded that the medical testing of Falun Gongs and Uyghurs was related in some way to the group concerned because other prisoners were not tested. No explanation has been given by the PRC for these testings yet.

Both the Red Cross Society of China and Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting also cast doubts in this regard as there had been a sudden increase of more than 25,000 organ donors on a single day in December 2015 and 88,300 registered organ donors within a six-day period in December 2016, a number that can only be explained by a large-scale, forced organ harvesting programme. Ethan Gutmann, a human rights investigator, testified to the China Tribunal that “over the last 18 months, literally every Uyghur man, woman, and child – about 15 million people – have been blood and DNA tested, and that blood testing is compatible with tissue matching”.

The Proponents and Opponents

China’s critics are mainly in the western world and also include major democracies like Australia and Japan. All 27 are considered either full or flawed democracies according to the Democratic Index 2019 given by The Economist Intelligence Unit. China is backed by a conglomeration of authoritarian and hybrid countries, including many of the world’s most brutal dictatorships namely North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Syria.

Unexpectedly, most of the signatories of the letter defending China’s new policy happened to be Muslim-majority nations like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Qatar, UAE and Syria. In the past, as the members of the Organization of Islamic Co-operation (OIC), they were not muted when Myanmar persecuted Rohingya Muslims and expelled 700,000 of them to Bangladesh. They were unequivocally releasing statements in condemnation when the Trump administration moved the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. But they are almost hushed on China’s attempt to suppress Islam in Xinjiang.

Albeit, some other OIC members such as Afghanistan, Albania, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, and Turkey refrained from signing the statement in support of Beijing. Regardless, all Muslim majority countries have ignored the call by the UNHRC to examine the situation in Xinjiang. There are quite a few factors which may have led these countries to keep distance from criticizing China.

Some OIC members are part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and thus have their economic future linked up with China. The political cost of impeding the Uyghur issue would be too high for any of these countries to endure. The success of the BRI depends on the Xinjiang region as it is the main route to the Arabian Sea via Pakistan. Any instability here can jeopardize Beijing’s plans for trade connectivity, risk its investments and disturb all stakeholders.

Beijing remains the Arab world’s long-term consumer base for the next few decades as fluctuating oil prices and the rise of western demand for alternate energy sources endanger its economic stability.

China is also expending loans and grants to these nations. $20 billion in loans to Arab countries, $6.7 billion to Pakistan, $27 billion in projects in Kazakhstan and many other central Asian nations. China’s massive investments are bearing fruit. Beijing has effectively taken advantage of the UNHRC to endorse the very activities it was created to oppose.

Conclusion

China is not only inflicting a cultural genocide of Uyghurs, but it is also repressing other cultural and religious minorities like Christians and Hui Muslims. It continues to abuse lawyers, human rights defenders, and activists. Any activity carried out in China to advocate for social change runs the risk of harassment by Chinese authorities. Basically, anything that the government considers as a threat to itself is a crime in its perspective. The worst violation of human rights is happening right in front of us. China is actively shifting the world narrative in its favour. Regardless of power, there are consequences for challenging China. Australia found itself in a trade dispute with its largest trading partner after pushing for international scrutiny into the origins of the novel-coronavirus. Two Canadian citizens are still being held in China after Canada arrested Huawei’s CFO on behalf of the United States. Nevertheless, China has been backlashed by the global community which grows its support for defending the human rights.

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According to National Crime Record Bureau or NCRB, more than 30-40% of acid attack victims are male in India. Here is a story of a male acid attack victim which was covered in India Today:

Chandrahass Mishra, a Meerut resident, was attacked with a bucket full of acid by his landlord’s son on 8^th September 2011. He was attacked by his landlord’s son as Mishra allegedly tried to prevent him from molesting a woman a day before.

They had a fight after which the accused threatened him that he will not even be for to show his face in public. Mishra had suffered nearly 40 per cent burns and the worst affected areas were his face, head and hand. Mishra was a small-time businessman who had to go through several surgeries and even through treatment for reconstructing his face via plastic surgery as a result of which he had to spend Rs 30 lakhs (300K) and was forced to borrow money and take loans.

What was even worse is that he himself had to run from one place to another for nearly a period of 10 months both for getting a medical board set up for calculating compensation which would be based on the burns he suffered and for disability benefits.

“Though Supreme Court had ordered a compensation of Rs 3 lakh for all victims, the reading of the state government authorities was that only woman victims are entitled to it. In the end, after five years, in 2016 I got compensation of one lakh rupees. Again, gender discrimination,” Mishra, now a coordinator with the NGO Acid Survivors and Women Welfare Foundation, told Mail Today.

Similarly, 52% of juvenile sexual attack victims are male. 

The whole nation comes to a standstill and candle marches are organised to mourn the rape and murdered of a five-year-old girl wherein the accused had inserted candles in her genitalia to stop the bleeding. It becomes a topic of discussion across the spectrum and everybody shows their agony and agitation right from the social media handles to Jantar Mantar (source).

But when a 15 years old boy is beaten up and sodomized and eventually succumbs to his injuries, no is even seen batting an eye about this ghastly incident of sexual assault on a minor who happens to be a male. His father had to dump his body as he didn’t even have enough money to perform his last rites. (source)

We believe that both cases mentioned above are brutal and should never happen in a civilised society. What pains us is the outrage (which is understandable) over sexual assault of a female toddler and utter ignorance by the very same society on the death of a teenaged boy.

Gender-related stigma to sexual assaults is such in India that our constitution does not have any specific provision to deliver justice to a male victim in the case of a sexual assault that too when it is recorded by NCRB that males are subject to sexual assaults too. India is not the only country, in this case, even a first world country, Singapore only recently brought in a law to give justice to such victims while it has been an independent nation for over half a century.

There is an abundance of fake sexual assault cases put on men by women for either financial favour or for any other reason. Men accused in this have to go through so much mental trauma and the societal pressure that many of them send up committing suicide.

Our motive behind writing this piece was, can we stop sympathizing for a particular gender while shunning and mocking their counterparts who have to go through the same amount of pain and agony? In a modern society where everyone is equal before the law, why is it that there are no constitutional remedies for male victims? Why does a society that claims to be modern and gender-neutral easily accepts these stigmas? 

It’s About time that we start introspecting about the fault lines in our societies and constitutions and extensively debate and take measures to fill in those gaps.

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