Beyond Gender Wars: Defending Human Dignity in Cases of Rape and False Allegations By Bashir Lucas Samson Lukman

When it comes to matter of rape and false rape allegations, it is important to put cruise-catching gender wars and pay attention to the risk these vices pose at human dignity and life. While a rape victim may suffer from stigma, loss of life in some cases and a different ball game when a child is born out of such experience, it is not apples and oranges for someone falsely accused of rape as well –some lose their lives from jungle justice and some others, wasted life behind bars.

When we view rape and false rape allegations from gender lens, it becomes counterproductive. A rape victim could be anyone’s mother, wife, sister or daughter just as one falsely accused of rape could be anyone’s father, husband, brother or son.

On the matter of Mirabel, not just women empathised with her, men did too and I am pretty sure if she pointed to someone people could trace, that criminal would have been on his way to hell on account of jungle justice before he had his day in court.

It is not rocket science that men commit the most crime and violence in this world. When a man vows to protect his wife or family, he doesn’t mean protecting them from women but men. This is not rocket science, yet, we need to ask, how about the few good men? Should they suffer for the crimes of others? Should a man be guilty until proven innocent? Anyone man who justifies betrays the women in his life just as any woman who justifies or find false rape allegations inconsequential betrays the men in her life, well, if the men are not douchebags anyway because no one has a good man in her life would find every man guilty until proven innocent.

There have been talks that Mirabel might have lied about being raped, a matter still under investigation. While the facts have not been fully established, she is being cut some slack on MENTAL HEALTH grounds. This makes me wonder what type of selective mental health that absolves people from accountability we have today.

If someone who falsely accuses someone of rape could have done that on account of mental health issue, could someone who raped a woman have done so because of mental health issues? How many rapists have we given some slack on account of mental health issues and how many men’s lives have been destroyed by woman who falsely accused them of rape without consequence from the women?

False allegations should carry serious legal consequences proportional to that of actual established rape. It could be a man or woman in your life, gender war ends when human life and dignity becomes threatened.

For William Blackstone, It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer but today, some are of the opinion that it is better to destroy an innocent one than to let ten guilty persons escape. Every man to his philosophy.

Bashir LuCas Samson Lukman