 "Anti-rape bill now a law after President Pranab's assent")
New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee has given his assent to the anti-rape bill, providing enhanced punishment for rape, making stalking and voyeurism criminal offences and fixing the age of consent for sex at 18.
“The President of India has accorded his assent to the Bill on 2 April (Tuesday) and it will now be called the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013,” said a statement by the home ministry on Wednesday.
The bill was passed by Lok Sabha on 19 March, and by Rajya Sabha two days later.
The bill incorporates suggestions of the Justice JS Verma Committee, formed after the brutal gang-rape of a medical student in Delhi on 16 December last year, to make anti-rape laws stronger.
It provides for rigorous imprisonment for a minimum of 20 years, extendable to life imprisonment, to those convicted for the offence of gangrape, and also defines and prescribes punishment for stalking, voyeurism and sexual harassment.
IANS
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