Sexual assault law: Parliamentary committee to introduce similar bill in budget session

New Delhi: Notwithstanding an ordinance on crime against women, a Parliamentary committee today decided to go ahead with considering a similar bill introduced in the Lok Sabha last year and table its report in the first half of the Budget session. Soon after the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance was promulgated, the Standing Committee on Home had referred the issue to Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari seeking clarification on whether it can still discuss the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2012 introduced in Lok Sabha in December last year. [caption id=“attachment_621335” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A prayer meeting for the Delhi gangrape victim. Agencies.[/caption] The ordinance has taken certain clauses from the bill pending in the lower house as well as recommendations made by the Justice Verma committee set up to suggest amendments to laws relating to crime against women. “The Committee Chairman (M Venkaiah Naidu of BJP) today ruled that the panel could still consider the bill despite the ordinance…we will try to table our report in the first half of the Budget session so that the government can take a call on incorporating our recommendations when it introduces a fresh bill to replace the ordinance,” a member said. Home Secretary R K Singh, who was to brief the panel today on the bill as well as the ordinance, could not attend due to his preoccupation with the Governors’ conference here. Officials of the Home Ministry and the Law Ministry briefed members on various clauses of the bill, the ordinance and related recommendations of the 3-member J S Verma panel. The ordinance, cleared in a special meeting of the Union Cabinet on February 1, said rape that leads to death of the victim or leaves her in a persistent vegetative state can now attract death penalty. It also proposes to replace the word ‘rape’ with ‘sexual assault’ to expand the definition of all types sexual crimes against women. PTI