Why Baba Ramdev thinks India will see more rape cases

New Delhi, March 15: Yoga Guru Baba

fears that India will witness more number of

cases in coming years. During a press conference in Panchkuia near Indore on Thursday, March 14, Ramdev was quoted as saying, "If this decision (to lower age of consensual sex) is taken, rape cases will increase."

The yoga guru, who is expected to join Indian politics in near future, claimed that crime against women will increase following the Centre's decision to reduce the age for consensual sex from 18 to 16.

Union Cabinet on Thursday cleared the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2013. The bill will ensure stringent punishment to the convicts in connection with any crime against women including rape. The same bill also lowers the age of consent for sex from 18 to 16 years.

Ramdev asserted that the recently cleared bill will "break the Hindu society" benefitting a "particular religion". Slamming the UPA government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the yoga guru claimed the government snubbed several burning issues such as corruption and inflation. However, the government was busy in deciding the age of consensual sex, chided the yoga guru.

Ramdev also believes that sex at 16 was not right for a person either physically or psychologically. Hence, the yoga guru received another weapon against the UPA government to strengthen his battle against the Centre.

Earlier on Thursday, a minister was quoted as saying, In the bill, we have tried to differentiate between rape and other sexual offenses as well as to minimize the misuse potential."

The bill, which now will be presented in Parliament for lawmakers' approval, shows capital punishment as the maximum punishment in severe rape cases.

However, the bill proposes to replace the words "sexual assault" in the current law with "rape" and lower the legally accepted age for consensual sex from 18 to 16.

The anti-rape bill has been cleared in the wake of recent infamous Delhi gang-rape on Dec 16. Six men gang-raped a 23-year-old para-medical student and later threw her out of a moving bus. The horrific incident irked the people of the country who showed their open protest against the government demanding stringent actions against the accused and more safety for women.

OneIndia News