Cabinet approves revised anti-rape bill, age of consent to stay at 18

The Union Cabinet has approved the revised anti-rape bill after recommendations were made by an all-party meeting held in New Delhi on Monday. Among the changes, the age for consensual sex will not be reduced to 16 years and will continue to be 18. The BJP had reservations against lowering the age of consent, while the Samajwadi party had expressed concerns that some provisions of the bill could be misused and used to target people. Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Kamal Nath said after an all-party meet earlier this morning that they would discuss certain ‘measures’ to guard against this, but did not elaborate. The bill will be tabled in Lok Sabha on Tuesday and the government is hopeful of passing it in both Houses by 22 March, after which the Budget session will go into recess until 22 April. The anti-rape bill will replace the anti-rape ordinance which was brought in after the Justice JS Verma report on preventing crimes against women. The ordinance, which was promulgated by President  Pranab Mukherjee on 3 February, has to be approved by Parliament within six weeks from the date of its promulgation.