Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita has no section dealing with rape of men, transgender persons

The alleged suicide of a 23-year-old man, hours after he was gang-raped by four men in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur district, has shed light upon the soon to be implemented Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, that does not include Section 377 or any other section that deals with rape of men and transgender persons. Police booked the four accused under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that deals with rape of a man, transgender person or an animal, alongside Sections dealing with extortion, theft, criminal intimidation, causing grievous hurt and criminal conspiracy, the case opened a debate on the future of such cases in the absence of Section 377 or its equivalent in the new code. Speaking to The Hindu, advocate Karuna Nundy said that in the landmark Supreme Court judgement of Navtej Johar vs the Union of India, the Supreme Court had “read down” Section 377, and not “struck down”, implying that consensual sex between people of the same gender and transgender persons was no longer punitive, but the Section was retained since it was the only provision that covered the rape of men, transpersons and animals. “With the removal of Section 377 from the BNS, and no alternative law in place, men or transgender persons will not have that legal protection against rape,” said Ms. Nundy.