New anti-rape law to be gender-neutral
According to sources the Union government is preparing to take up the law in the Lok Sabha on February 25 and will try and get the political parties to agree to a discussion and passage of the bill on the same day.
there is always a likelihood that the Bill, which is pending in the Lok Sabha, would not be passed as it is. Justice Verma’s report would certainly weigh on the current bill, which
Honoured by CM,
official held for aiding rape Raipur: Days after she was felicitated by Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh as the best female hostel warden, Anita Thakur, the woman superintendent of ‘‘ government-run residential school for tribal girls, in Balod district, has been arrested on charges of aiding rape of an inmate. The 19-year-old victim had complained four months ago that she was raped by a youth in the hostel in 2006 when she was studying in Class VIII. She accused the hostel superintendent of complicit in the crime. envisages a gender-neutral law against sexual assault.
Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde intro- duced the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2012, in the Lok Sabha on December 4. According to the bill, both men and women will be able invoke the provisions of a criminal law in case of sexual assault as it replaces the word “rape” with the phrase “sexual assault” and seeks to expand the scope of the offence. Under the bill, an offender can be jailed for life in cases of sexual assault, irrespective of the victim’s gender. Another stringent provision in the pending bill is that a victim below 18 years of age will not have to face the accused in court or at police stations.