A group of ministers headed by P Chidambaram has concretized the anti-rape law. It is being decided by GoM that the age of consent will be lowered from 18 to 16 years; stalking and second act of voyeurism will be non-bailable offences and that there will be no punishment for false cases filed that allege crimes against women.
The ministers were given 24 hours to decide these and other points of dispute between different government departments. The cabinet will review the bill tomorrow, which will then be discussed by leaders of all parties on Monday.
The government has been keen to amend laws with stricter punishment for a wider range of crimes against women since the shocking gang-rape of a medical student on a bus in Delhi. She died of the horrific injuries.
The government has been criticised for the delays in managing consensus among its senior ministers. The cabinet was divided over whether the bill should refer to the gender-neutral term of "sexual assault" or "rape"-it has decided on the latter, stating that sodomy will be addressed in a separate bill.
Lowering the age of consent was also disputed, the child and women's welfare minister Krishna Tirath argued that it would encourage child abuse but others said that lowering the age from 18 to 16 will prevent false accusations of statutory rape in cases where teenagers have consensual sex.
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As per Indian laws, you can have sex at 16, but can't watch others having sex for the next 2 years.
ReplyDeleteooo... I didn`t know that :)
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