The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013 will be introduced in the Lok Sabha today. Giving this information on Monday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath expressed the hope that the Bill will be adopted by Parliament in the next four days.
The Union Cabinet yesterday approved the amendments to the the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013, keeping the age of consent for sex at 18 instead of 16. Briefing reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Minister for Women and Child Development, Krishna Tirath said, the offence of stalking will be bailable in the first instance and thereafter, it will be a non-bailable crime. Similarly, voyeurism will also be treated as a bailable offence in the first instance and non-bailable thereafter.
Earlier, an all-party meeting held two rounds of discussions to iron out differences on some of the contentious clauses in the Bill. BJP, SP and other parties were opposed to the consent age of 16 and demanded that the age be raised to 18, as envisaged in the Ordinance. They contended that since the age of marriage is 18 years, the age of consent should also be the same.