M A I N   N E W S

Age of consent remains 18 in anti-rape Bill
Aditi Tandon/TNS

Stalking, voyeurism bailable Anti-rape Bill harmonised with Juvenile Justice Act to prevent criminalisation of consensual sex between 16 and 18-year-olds Stalking, voyeurism made bailable offences in first instance; non-bailable in second Penalties against police officers not registering cases of stalking, voyeurism deleted Cabinet clears final draft, to be introduced in LS on Tuesday

New Delhi, March 18
The Government will introduce the much-awaited anti-rape Bill in the Lok Sabha tomorrow after the Cabinet today cleared the final draft of the law that raises the age of consensual sex to 18 years and waters down the penalties attached to new sexual offences like stalking and voyeurism.

Both these have been made bailable at the first offence, which means the punishment they carry has been fixed between a minimum of one year and a maximum of three. In the earlier draft of the Bill, stalking was proposed to be non-bailable and voyeurism was made bailable at the first offence and non-bailable later. Now, both will be non-bailable only at the second offence.

The changes were effected after the BJP-led NDA, SP, BSP and RJD rooted for these at an all-party meet convened in two rounds today to forge a consensus on the Bill. All these parties expressed apprehensions that the provision of penalising stalking, voyeurism and intentional touching of women could be misused by one political opponent against the other. They were especially wary of the misuse of new provisions ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Importantly, Law Minister Ashwani Kumar had from the beginning stressed safeguards in the clauses that define the new sexual offences. He had advocated making these bailable at the first instance.”

“The advocacy of the Law Minister to civilise the anti-rape Bill prevailed at the all-party meeting where all political parties sought protections against the penal provisions of stalking and voyeurism,” UPA sources said. They added that a provision has also been made that anyone filing false cases would be subject to punishment under Section 211 IPC.

Further in the final Bill, the provision of penalising police officers for not registering FIRs in cases of new sexual offences (stalking and voyeurism) has also been deleted to “ensure that police personnel do not resort to registering all kinds of frivolous complaints in cases of second or third grade sexual offences,” government sources said. Now, a police officer can be punished up to one year if he does not register a case of rape.

Justifying raising the age of consent to 18 years, government sources said all parties including BJP, SP, BSP and JDU demanded that the age be raised from 16 to 18 years. “There was discussion on how to prevent criminalisation of sex between 16 and 18 year olds and a consensus was reached on the fact that the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000 provides protections in that respect. We have harmonised the anti-rape Bill with the JJ Act in respect of consensual sex between 16 to 18 year olds,” a Cabinet Minister told TNS. The Government is in a hurry to pass the Bill to prevent the ordinance in this respect from lapsing. The last criminal law amendments in respect of rape happened 30 years ago in 1983.