Laws That Are Structurally Biased Against Men in India

  1. Section 498A IPC / Sections 85–86 BNS — Dowry Harassment

The law only recognises the husband or his relatives as possible accused. A wife has no equivalent liability under the same provision, even if she is the one causing cruelty. More critically, the husband does not enjoy the presumption of innocence when facing charges under Section 498A. Under normal criminal law, the prosecution must prove guilt. Here, the accused must disprove it. (You read it right!!!)

The offence is cognizable and non-bailable - meaning police can arrest without a warrant and bail is not a right. In quite a number of cases, bedridden grandfathers and grandmothers of the husband, and sisters living abroad for decades, have been arrested under this section. (You again read it right) The Supreme Court itself noted in 2014 that the provision had a "dubious place of pride amongst laws used as weapons rather than shields by disgruntled wives."

After giving interim bail, cases are referred to mediation where the man is kept in legal limbo neither arrested nor free attending court dates indefinitely without resolution.

  1. Section 63 BNS — Rape

The law is written so that only a man can be a perpetrator, and only a woman can be a victim. A woman who sexually assaults a man commits no offence called rape under Indian law. Under BNS Section 63, rape is defined in a way where only women can be the victim and only a man can be the perpetrator.

Before BNS, Section 377 IPC covered non-consensual sexual offences regardless of gender. BNS has completely omitted this section. Relegating the rape of men and transgender persons to "grievous hurt" under Sections 114 and 115 of BNS trivialises the gravity of the crime — the maximum sentence under these sections is 7 years, compared to potential life imprisonment for rape under Section 63.

In practice, a man who is raped by a woman is legally treated as someone who received a beating, not a sexual violation.

  1. Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005

The law by design covers only women as protected persons. A man being physically abused by his wife has no equivalent statute. He cannot get a protection order, a residence order, or monetary relief under this act. He must instead rely on general IPC provisions for assault, which carry no family-law-specific remedies like restraining orders or the right to stay in the shared home.

The asymmetry is structural: the same act of domestic violence is a specialised, fast-track legal remedy for a woman, and just a regular criminal complaint for a man, with entirely different access to courts, timelines, and relief.

  1. Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013 (POSH)

The Act only applies when the complainant is a woman. An Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) is mandatory under POSH, but its mandate covers only women's complaints. A man sexually harassed by a female colleague or superior has no dedicated statutory mechanism, no ICC jurisdiction, and no defined investigation process. His only recourse is the general criminal law route, which has no workplace-specific provisions.

  1. Section 144 BNSS (formerly Section 125 CrPC) — Maintenance

While the text of personal laws like the Hindu Marriage Act is technically gender-neutral, the BNSS maintenance provision is specifically written for "wives, children, and parents" — not husbands. In April 2025, the Supreme Court refused to make Section 125/144 gender-neutral, dismissing a PIL. The bench noted that any change must come from Parliament, and reiterated that maintenance is rooted in social justice for wives and children.

The law is designed such that a woman married for a single day is entitled to receive maintenance from her husband for life, until she remarries or dies. Duration of marriage, her educational qualifications, her family's income, her age, and her earning potential — all become legally irrelevant. The husband is duty-bound to pay. A husband seeking maintenance from an earning wife succeeds only in rare cases where he is genuinely incapacitated, and courts apply far stricter scrutiny to such claims.

  1. Child Custody — Default Presumption Favouring Mothers

No statute explicitly says mothers win custody, but the judicial practice produces that outcome. Only 25% of men in marital conflicts were granted visitation rights by courts, and even those orders are frequently disregarded by the child's mother, according to a 2025 study by the Ekam Nyaay Foundation. Fathers who have been granted even limited visitation have no fast, effective enforcement mechanism when the mother refuses compliance.

  1. BNS Section 69 — Sex on False Promise of Marriage

This section criminalises a man who has sex with a woman after making a false promise of marriage. The law is explicitly one-directional: only a man can be accused, only a woman can be the complainant. A woman who makes a false promise of marriage to a man, under which he consents to a relationship or financial commitment, faces no equivalent criminal liability.

🗳️ Part 2: Political Schemes & Policies Only for Women

BJP (Central Government)

  • PM Ujjwala Yojana — Free LPG connections, primarily targeting women beneficiaries

  • PM Matru Vandana Yojana — Cash transfer of ₹5,000 to pregnant and lactating mothers

  • Beti Bachao Beti Padhao — Girl child welfare scheme

  • Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (Women's Reservation Bill, 2023) — Seeks to reserve one-third of seats in Parliament and state assemblies exclusively for women.

  • Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana — Savings scheme only for girl children

AAP (Delhi)

  • Mahila Samman Yojana — Announced ₹1,000/month cash transfer to all women over 18 in Delhi.

BJP/Mahayuti (Maharashtra)

  • Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana — Offers ₹1,500 monthly to women.

JMM-Congress (Jharkhand)

  • Maiya Yojana — Provided ₹1,000 monthly to women, helping consolidate the alliance's electoral base.

Congress (Manifesto Promises)

  • Promised 50% reservation of Central government jobs for women, re-incorporation of the Bharatiya Mahila Bank with an all-women Board of Directors, and night shelters for migrant women workers.

  • One-third reservation in Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

DMK (Tamil Nadu)

  • Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thittam — ₹1,000/month cash transfer exclusively to women household heads.

West Bengal (BJP)

  • All women to get free bus rides in state bus transportation and any women who doesn't have a government job will get ₹3000 thrown into her bank every single month.

This is a tight slap in face of feminism. They are busy fighting exactly which inequality??? There are many issues in rural provinces and misogynistic attitudes in society, but if you are fighting to get recognition as human beings, why are they not even saying anything about how this is open discrimination???