New Delhi:
With a 24-hour deadline looming, a Group of Ministers or GoM headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram is racing against time as it meets today to attempt a consensus on the proposed anti-rape law.
Here are the latest developments:
The bill could not be cleared by the Cabinet yesterday because of disagreements between senior ministers over key features. The GoM was then given a deadline of 24 hours to reconcile their differing opinions.
The government says it is confident of getting the bill cleared by the Cabinet tomorrow, after which the bill will be discussed with leaders of all political parties on Monday.
After the fatal gang-rape of a medical student on a Delhi bus in December last year, the government last month introduced an ordinance for tough laws to punish crimes against women.
Parliament has to clear the bill by March 22, when it breaks for a month, or the ordinance will lapse.
The bill is dogged by several sticking points, such as whether the age of consent should be lowered from 18 to 16. Sexual intercourse for those below the age of consent is considered statutory rape.
Mr Chidambaram and Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath are against lowering the age of consent from 18 to 16 while Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde reportedly supports the move.
There is also no consensus over whether the word "rape", which is gender-specific, should replace the gender-neutral "sexual assault" in the bill.
The ministers are also divided over the definition of voyeurism and stalking, which the bill identifies as criminal offences for the first time in India.
Law Minister Ashwani Kumar is concerned that voyeurism and stalking could be used to file false complaints.
Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal has argued that the bill should provide for punishment of those found guilty of lodging false complaints.
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