‘Rape’ replaces ‘sexual assault’ in Criminal Law Ordinance, 2013

NEW DELHI: The home ministry has moved a Cabinet note, which has reintroduced the term ‘ rape’ in place of ‘sexual assault’ in the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013. The MHA’s note will be considered by the Union Cabinet on Thursday for approval and a fresh anti-rape bill introduced in Parliament. The ordinance had removed ‘rape’ and replaced it with gender-neutral ‘ sexual assault.’

But the Cabinet note of the home ministry is now believed to have reversed that and has defined rape as per the wider definition given by the Justice JS Verma Committee report. The age of consent for sexual intercourse has also been reduced from 18 years to 16 years, as per the Cabinet note moved by the MHA.

The pending Criminal Law Amendment Bill, 2012, criminalised sexual activity for people between the 16 and 18 years of age. The Verma committee had suggested 16 as the age of consent but the ordinance had put it at 18. The MHA note now proposes the age to be reduced to 16 years for consensual sex. The Union Cabinet will now take the final call.

Government sources said that besides these changes, the proposed bill is almost a replica of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013, which was promulgated by the President last month. The Ordinance did not make marital rape a criminal offence – the proposed bill will be sticking to the same, a government source said. Stalking and voyeurism will be made a criminal offence in the said bill along with stiffer punishment for acid attacks and provision for death sentence in aggravated cases of sexual assault that lead to the death of the victim or leave her in a permanent vegetative state, on the lines of the provisions in the ordinance.

The said bill will also have no changes to the provision that stipulates sanction from higher authority to prosecute security personnel accused of sexual offences in areas governed by the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.