New Delhi, March 2
The stage is set for the introduction of an anti-rape Bill in Parliament with the Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha approving the Criminal Law Amendment Bill 2012 referred to it last December and also sending its recommendations on the recently promulgated anti-rape Ordinance.

The committee, headed by BJP member Venkaiah Naidu, has asked the government to ensure that clemency is not considered in cases of rape and murder. “The President should not have the power to pardon rape and murder convicts. The former President had pardoned a rape convict who was not even alive,” Naidu said.

High points of the recommendations are rigorous imprisonment for police officers found disobeying directions under the law such as not registering FIRs and agreement on death penalty for the rarest of rare cases involving rape that leaves the victim dead or in a permanent vegetative state.

“We have sought the insertion of 166A in the IPC to make this offence cognisable and non-bailable and punishable with rigorous imprisonment. We agree with the government on death penalty in the rarest cases of sexual assault,” Naidu said.

Low points include rejection to inclusion of marital rape as a new offence in the IPC and rejection of rape as a gender specific crime where men alone can be perpetrators. The current law makes rape a gender neutral crime, which means women can also be charged with sexual assault. Experts say this is a retrograde step.

On marital rape, Naidu said, “We didn’t want to disturb the family system. It is impractical for a man to seek wife’s consent on a day-to-day basis.”. CPI’s D Raja and CPM’s Prasanta Chatterjee have given dissent notes on non-inclusion of marital rape as an offence and inclusion of death penalty as a punishment in the law.

The committee has further recommended that political dominance must be retained in the newly proposed Section 376 (2) that deals with aggravated sexual assault where persons in position of trust are charged with rape. The government had deleted this provision from the Ordinance.

In another disagreement, the committee has asked for mandatory videography of recording of evidence which the government Ordinance had said “may be videographed”. The panel wants women cells in all police stations and mandatory registration of rape FIRs by women police officer or women government officers. The Ordinance had said “as far as possible the FIR should be registered by a woman police officer”.

The committee hasn’t recommended amendments to Armed Forces Special Power Act saying the anti rape law already covers armed forces in the clause on aggravated assault. Asked about Justice JS Verma committee recommendation to do away with prior prosecution sanction requirement for army personnel involved in rape cases, Naidu said, “Home Secretary told us such sanction is not needed.”