New anti-rape laws?Justice Verma committee to submit report today

The Justice Verma committee, which was set up after the horrific gangrape and assault on 16 December killed a 23-year-old in Delhi, will submit its recommendations for strict anti-rape laws today.The three-member committee headed by Justice JS Verma was set up by the government to look into women’s safety, existing legislations and suggest changes to check crimes against women.[caption id="attachment_598923" align="alignleft" width="380"] Representative image. PTI[/caption]The Ibnlive report stated that the panel has also studied the possibilities of enhanced punishment for criminals who have been accused of committing sexual assault of an extreme nature.However, the committee has received a wide range of suggestions during its tenure ranging from the weird to the extreme. The nation's two biggest political parties have also sent their recommendations to the committee along with social groups and individuals.Women's groups that have sent a joint memorandum to the committee have sent a range of demands which includes: fast-track courts for all cases of sexual assault, investigation of all cases of sexual assault within a month; witness-protection legislation; refusal of bail to the accused during the trial period; standard operating procedures to be followed by the police, and doing away with the “two-finger test” for a victim of sexual assault.The Congress had suggested to the committee that rapists should be given life imprisonment and a death sentence must be reserved only in rarest of rare cases.The BJP had recommended including death penalty as punishment for those convicted of gangrape, abduction and rape, and custodial rape among other suggestions.