New Delhi:
The new anti-rape bill, which seeks to provide stricter punishment for rape and other crimes against women, has finally been tabled in Parliament. The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde today.
Earlier in the day, the main Opposition party, the BJP, said it that will support the government in passing the bill. "BJP is in favour of passing the anti-rape law. It will vote in favour of the bill and help the government in passing it," the party's deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, Gopinath Munde, said.
This is after the government decided to change provisions in the bill, which was cleared by its Cabinet last week, including raising back the age of consent to 18 years. In the bill that was first cleared by a Group of Ministers and then the Cabinet last week had proposed the age of consent to be 16 years.
The BJP and the Samajwadi Party had argued that lowering the age to 16 would encourage pre-marital sex, since women have to be at least 18 years old to get married.
The government has also agreed that stalking and voyeurism, which have been criminalised for the first time, will be watered down to prevent false cases at the request of the Samajwadi Party and others. The first offence in both these categories has been made bailable.
The Criminal Laws (Amendments) Bill 2013 has to be passed by Parliament before it breaks for a month on March 22. If that does not happen, changes to laws punishing crimes against women, introduced through an ordinance by the government in February, will lapse.
The exigent need for updated laws to protect women was driven home grimly by the fatal gang-rape of a medical student on a moving bus in Delhi in December. The monstrous attack triggered nationwide protests and a demand for better safety for women.