NEW DELHI: A new anti-rape bill that delivers life in prison and the death penalty for those convicted of rape has gone into affect on Tuesday and has women hopeful that it will give the police more teeth in tracking and arresting perpetrators of violent crimes against women. It also delivers harsh penalties for acid attacks, stalking and voyeurism. “I am very pleased that we have this new law, but the question will be how is it to be implemented,” Delhi-based social worker and women's rights advocate Sunitra told Bikyanews.com. “If the police use it to do more investigations into reported crimes then it is good for the country, but we all fear it is more lip service.” President Pranab Mukherjee approved Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill-2013 on Tuesday, brought against the backdrop of the countrywide outrage over the Delhi gang-rape case and others in recent months, and it will now be called the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, an official release said on Wednesday. The law, passed by Lok Sabha on March 19 and by Rajya Sabha on March 21, has replaced an ordinance promulgated on February 3. It amends various sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Indian Evidence Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act. With an aim of providing a strong deterrent against crimes like rapes, the new law states that an offender can be sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than 20 years, but which may extend to life, meaning imprisonment for the remainder of the convict's natural life and with a fine. It has provisions for handing out death sentence to offenders who may have been convicted earlier for such crimes. The law, for the first time, defines stalking and voyeurism as non-bailable offenses if repeated for a second time. Perpetrators of acid attack will attract a 10-year jail. It also defines acid attack as a crime besides granting a victim the right to self-defense. It also has provisions for imposing a minimum 10-year jail term for perpetrators of such acts. The law has fixed age for consensual sex at 18 years. Pranab Mukherjee has given his assent to the Anti-rape Bill, providing enhanced punishment for rape, making stalking and voyeurism criminal offenses. “The President of India has accorded his assent to the Bill on April 2 (Tuesday) and it will now be called the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013,” said a statement by the union home ministry on Wednesday. The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha March 19, and by the Rajya Sabha March 21. The Bill incorporates suggestions of the Justice JS Verma Committee, formed after the brutal Delhi gang-rape of Dec 16 last year, to make anti-rape laws stronger. It provides for rigorous imprisonment for a minimum of 20 years, extendable to life imprisonment, to those convicted for the offense of gang-rape, and also defines and prescribes punishment for stalking, voyeurism and sexual harassment. BN
