New Delhi:
The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, which proposes jail term to a rape convict for his entire life, will be taken up at a special meeting of the union cabinet today, Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said in Delhi on Monday.
Seeking to dismissing reports of any differences in the Cabinet over the bill, Mr Shinde said "there is a difference of opinion on legal points, which is being addressed to and it will be taken up tomorrow at the special cabinet meeting."
Mr Shinde said the Law Ministry has to vet all proposals before the government takes the next step. The fresh bill will replace the ordinance on crimes against women promulgated last month which had prescribed life imprisonment as the maximum punishment for those committing rape.
It will also replace the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2012 introduced in the Lok Sabha in December last. Earlier Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who heads the Group of Ministers on media, had also dismissed reports about differences in the government over the bill and said there are different points expressed by different people with some suggesting that the word sexual assault must be retained while others favour the term rape.
According to sources, there was difference of opinion over the lowering of consent age for sex from 18 to 16, which was being addressed to.