The Centre has informed to Delhi High Court that rape laws cannot be made gender-neutral because of the perpetrator of the offense who is a man and that even globally offenses like sexual harassment are predominantly perpetrated by a man on a woman.

The reply by the ministry of home affairs was filed before a bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and justice V Kameswar Rao while responding to a petition, which challenged the constitutional validity of section 375&376(rape) of the Indian Penal Code(IPC)seeking to make these sections gender-neutral.it is pertinent to mention that rape laws are gender-specific and an FIR under these sections can be registered only against a man and not a woman.