Anti-rape bill to be placed in Parliament Tuesday despite opposition by BJP SP. BSP Misuse clause a sticky issue: Dilution of Voyeurism and Stalking ; Age of consent raised back to 18
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New Delhi, Mar 18: The government and the opposition today
arrived at a consensus at an all-party meeting, wherein the government
said it would not oppose if the opposition brings amendment to raise the
minimum age of consent for sex from 16 years to 18 years.
Sources said, the government also agreed to provide safeguards in
the anti-rape bill to provisions relating to stalking and staring, which
have been made non-bailable offences.
The all-party meeting with a resolve that the anti-rape bill will be passed in Parliament this week.
"Largely
there is consensus on the intent and the content of the Bill, except
that there are concerns about misuse and abuse of some of the provisions
of the Bill," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath had told
reporters here after the first round of the all-party meeting.
BJP,
SP and other parties demanded that the age of consent for sex be 18
years and not 16 as envisaged in the Ordinance. They contended that
since the age of marriage is 18 years, the age of consent should be the
same.
Other parties, however, said pre-marital sex is a reality and the age of consent should be 16 years.
Most parties were of the view that the clauses about stalking and voyuerism be tweaked further to prevent misuse.
There
should be sufficient safeguards against filing of false cases by
political opponents and those wanting to settle scores, they said.
Kamal Nath said the government is ready to bring necessary official amendments in the Bill and ensure its smooth passage.
The
government suggested in the meeting that the introduction, discussion
and passage of the Bill be done on the same day, that is, tomorrow in
Lok Sabha.
The Ordinance lapses on April 4 and the government and
most parties are of the view that the Bill be passed with suitable
changes before the Budget Session goes into recess on March 22.
The age of consent in Ordinance was 18 and it was brought down to 16 in the proposed Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013.
Before
the ordinance was promulgated, the age of consent was 16. It has been
at 16 years for the past 30 years. Before that, the age of consent for
sex was considered by the age of puberty which had created confusion,
forcing government to fix it at 16.
The Bill had provisions for
safeguard against misuse. But the GoM to which it was referred to
decided to drop it, maintaining the existing provisions in IPC have
sufficient safeguards.
"Some political leaders said the law could
be misused ahead of Lok Sabha elections. They wanted safeguards to be
specified," a Minister, who attended the meeting, said.
The
Criminal Laws Ordinance, which made anti-rape laws more stringent, was
promulgated by the President on February 3 in the wake of public outrage
over the December 16 Delhi gangrape.
