# Boys Too : The Unheard Story

" Boys don't cry. They make others cry."

A phrase which our brothers, male friends and all the boys have been hearing right from their childhood. That boys do not cry otherwise they will be shamed as cowards and weak. A fake set of patriarchy has been bestowed upon them where they cannot express their emotions openly.

The worst part is boys also get raped and their story remains unheard.

In April 26, 2018 a 14 year old boy in Mumbai was lured by a man for playing cricket and repeatedly raped inside a locked room. He told his mother about this horrific incident last July in his hospital bed.

The boy died soon after committing suicide by consuming rat poison.
Do we know about his story? Why not? Because how can a boy get raped?
Well they do but nobody is willing to listen to them.

The Ministry of Women and child development told Parliament in March that only 467 male child abuse cases were lodged out of approximately 36,121 cases reported in 2016. The family members of the child aren't coming out as a fear that it will dregrade their son's masculinity.

"Boys who are sexually abused as children
stay silent because of the shame and stigma of the sexually assaulted men victims speaking out. " said Maneka Gandhi, minister of women and child development at an Interview.

The Government introduced death penalty as a punishment for raping girls below the age of 12, last month. However sadly the judgement didn't include male child victims as a part.

The life imprisonment of raping a minor boy is 16 years to that of a girl is 20 years. So Why this discrimination? When we are talking about gender equality everyday, why not give equal rights to the boy?

It's time we accept this fact that Rape is Rape and sexual assault cases should be dealt equally. Only if we learn to help the victim get justice instead of blaming him or her, I think that we can surely bring a change.