Anti-rape bill likely to face hurdles in all-party meet

New Delhi: The anti-rape bill, aimed to provide stricter punishment for crimes against women, is currently being discussed in an all-party meeting. The bill, which proposes to lower the age of consent from 18 years to 16 years, was cleared by the Cabinet on Thursday.

The Samajwadi Party, which extends outside support to the Congress-led UPA, has raised objections against the provisions relating to stalking and lowering age of consent. Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav has said it will oppose the anti-rape bill's proposals in Parliament and at the all-party meeting.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which says it wants the bill to be passed at the earliest, also has certain reservations.

"BJP agrees with most issues stated in the bill and would like it to be passed. But some sections in the party have reservations on decreasing the age of consent from 18 to 16 years," a senior BJP leader had said last week.

The contentious provision of lowering the age of consent had earlier held up the proposed legislation briefly and had to be referred to a Group of Ministers for consensus.

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Child and Women's Welfare Minister Krishna Tirath has said that lowering the age of consent would encourage child abuse while others have said that it will prevent false accusations of statutory rape in cases where teenagers have consensual sex.

The government has been keen to amend laws with stricter punishment for a wider range of crimes against women since the shocking gang-rape of a medical student on a bus in Delhi. She died in December of the horrific injuries.

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Last month, in a signal of its determination to improve safety for women, the government cleared a package of laws through an ordinance. The ordinance, which has the age of consent as 18 years, has to be approved by Parliament before its recess from March 22, failing which it would lapse on April 4.