Moily: sexual assault law will be stringent

May 26, 2010 - Nitin Mahajan |

New Delhi

In the backdrop of Ruchika Girhotra molestation case, the Union law and justice ministry is working on the Sexual Offences (Special Courts) 2010 Bill which aims to fast-track cases of sexual offences. The proposed law stipulate that investigation in such cases be completed within six months to an year, and also proposes to make punishment for cases of sexual assault on women more stringent.

Speaking to this paper, law and justice minister M. Veerappa Moily stated that the government will make punishment for cases of sexual assault on women more stringent. “The bill is currently being drafted and is likely to be brought before Parliament later this year after seeking the approval of the Union Cabinet,” Dr Moily stated.
“Through the bill we are aiming towards making the laws more stringent and also to enhance the sentence for the offence of outraging the modesty of a woman,” the law minister stated.
Through the proposed change in law, the government will also aim to address the anomaly wherein present rape laws only recognise sexual crimes involving penile penetration. While the sexual molestation law covers all sexual offences that outrage the modesty of the victim. The bill is also likely to seek a higher jail term for offenders of molestation, present laws make molestation a bailable offence which and attracts punishment of a maximum of two years.
Law ministry sources stated that the need for such a law was felt after a public outcry at the delay in the verdict of the Ruchika Girhotra murder case.

Post new comment

<form action="/comment/reply/14870" accept-charset="UTF-8" method="post" id="comment-form"> <div><div class="form-item" id="edit-name-wrapper"> <label for="edit-name">Your name: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <input type="text" maxlength="60" name="name" id="edit-name" size="30" value="Reader" class="form-text required" /> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-mail-wrapper"> <label for="edit-mail">E-Mail Address: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <input type="text" maxlength="64" name="mail" id="edit-mail" size="30" value="" class="form-text required" /> <div class="description">The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.</div> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-comment-wrapper"> <label for="edit-comment">Comment: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <textarea cols="60" rows="15" name="comment" id="edit-comment" class="form-textarea resizable required"></textarea> </div> <fieldset class=" collapsible collapsed"><legend>Input format</legend><div class="form-item" id="edit-format-1-wrapper"> <label class="option" for="edit-format-1"><input type="radio" id="edit-format-1" name="format" value="1" class="form-radio" /> Filtered HTML</label> <div class="description"><ul class="tips"><li>Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.</li><li>Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd></li><li>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.</li></ul></div> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-format-2-wrapper"> <label class="option" for="edit-format-2"><input type="radio" id="edit-format-2" name="format" value="2" checked="checked" class="form-radio" /> Full HTML</label> <div class="description"><ul class="tips"><li>Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.</li><li>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.</li></ul></div> </div> </fieldset> <input type="hidden" name="form_build_id" id="form-a42c67aec3afee3b4e226d2cf9dc6d28" value="form-a42c67aec3afee3b4e226d2cf9dc6d28" /> <input type="hidden" name="form_id" id="edit-comment-form" value="comment_form" /> <fieldset class="captcha"><legend>CAPTCHA</legend><div class="description">This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.</div><input type="hidden" name="captcha_sid" id="edit-captcha-sid" value="84783182" /> <input type="hidden" name="captcha_response" id="edit-captcha-response" value="NLPCaptcha" /> <div class="form-item"> <div id="nlpcaptcha_ajax_api_container"><script type="text/javascript"> var NLPOptions = {key:'c4823cf77a2526b0fba265e2af75c1b5'};</script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://call.nlpcaptcha.in/js/captcha.js" ></script></div> </div> </fieldset> <span class="btn-left"><span class="btn-right"><input type="submit" name="op" id="edit-submit" value="Save" class="form-submit" /></span></span> </div></form>