New Delhi,11th march: The Union Cabinet on Tuesday deferred a decision on the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, which proposes life term to those found guilty in rape crimes.
According to reports, the Union Cabinet deferred the decision due to lack of unanimity over the proposed anti-rape ordinance and referred it to the Group of Ministers (GoM) for further consideration.
The anti-rape ordinance will be brought before the Union Cabinet only after the GoM holds a discussion and proposes changes to it.
Despite differences in the government over the bill, the UPA government is committed to bring the bill in the current session.
Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, during a press briefing yesterday, ruled out that there were any differences between Law, Home Ministry and the Women and Child Development Ministry.
The Union Home Minister yesterday said, “There is a difference of opinion on legal points only, which is being addressed to and it will be taken up during the special cabinet meeting.”
Shinde, who was answering questions at his monthly press conference, 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.
Government sources earlier claimed that there was difference of opinion over the lowering of consent age for sex from 18 to 16, which was being addressed to.
According to the proposal, a person convicted of rape will have to spend the rest of his life in jail and also retains the provision that if rape leads to death of the victim or leaves her in a vegetative state, it can attract death penalty.
While the ordinance said the statement of the victim may be video-graphed, the bill makes the provision mandatory.
The bill also makes the presence of a woman officer – whether police or civil – mandatory when the statement of the victim is recorded.
On the issue of voyeurism, the Law Ministry has opposed a provision that if someone takes pictures of a woman with her permission, it would not amount to an offence.
The Home Ministry had held inter-ministerial consultations on the bill to have a consensus.
The Bill will also make it mandatory for all government and private hospitals in the country to provide free medical treatment to women victims of any form of sexual violence.
The refusal to do so will be a criminal offence and attract one-year jail term for top bosses and the staff on duty of hospitals found guilty of turning away victims of sexual violence needing immediate medical care.
Bureau
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