New bill on crimes against women proposes only men be charged with rape

New Delhi: The Criminal Law Amendment bill which seeks to make punishment for crimes against women more stringent is different on at least four counts from the recent government ordinance.The proposed changes once brought about would mean that only men can be charged with rape now. The change was necessitated following demands by women's rights groups who had maintained that laws should be more gender sensitive than gender neutral.The other proposal is understood to be replacing the provision in the ordinance which had subscribed life imprisonment as the maximum punishment for those in authority committing rape. Now, a person in authority convicted of rape will have to spend rest of his "natural life" in jail. The person in authority has been described as a police officer, a personnel of the armed forces, a doctor or a staffer of a hospital, a jailer or a warden of a remand home.

A fresh proposal now makes 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. Hospitals and similar facilities will not have to wait for the police. They can straight away start treatment after informing the police.The refusal to do so will now be a criminal offense and attract a 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.The bill proposes that the age of consent be lowered from 18 to 16. The issue led to lengthy inter-ministry consultations with some arguing that it should not be reduced. Sexual intercourse under the age of consent is considered statutory rape.The bill retains a key provision of the ordinance under which if rape leads to death of the victim or leaves her in a vegetative state, it can also attract death penalty. The minimum punishment is 20 years in jail which may extend upto the "natural life" of the convict.The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013, which will come up before the Union Cabinet convened specially to pass the measure will replace the February 3 Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance.The Ordinance will lapse on 4 April — six weeks from 21 February when the Budget session was convened.Since the ordinance is the 'law of the land' as of today, cases of rape and similar crimes will continue to be registered under its provisions till the President signs the new bill to make it into law.The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2012 introduced in the Lok Sabha in December last will be scrapped once the new bill is introduced in Parliament, most likely later this week.PTI