Anti-rape bill okayed, half of LS missing

New Delhi, March 19: Anti-rape bill or the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013, has been okayed by the Lok Sabha this evening with around 200 members present during final passage. The total strength of the House is over 500.

The bill has fixed the age of consent for sex at 18 and made first offence for stalking to be bailable.

Members wanted voting on two amendments, one on life imprisonment for acid attack cases and other on trafficking of women. But both the amendments were defeated.

The opposition parties and even the UPA's outside allies forced the government to raise the consent age limit to 18 years and also dilute other provisions of the bill to put a check on its misuse.

The government diluted the definition of stalking and voyeurism under pressure from the Samajwadi Party. The Criminal Laws Ordinance was promulgated by the President on February 3 in the wake of the public outrage which had engulfed over the December 16 Delhi gangrape. The Ordinance lapses on April 4.

The government also responded to the strong objections raised by the women groups and restored the term 'rape' in place of sexual assault in the ordinance and made it a gender-specific crime.

OneIndia News