Prez gives assent to ordinance to fight sexual crimes

New Delhi, Feb 4: President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday gave his assent to an ordinance purported to give more teeth to the criminal laws to check crime against women, despite protests from several organisations.

Many women’s groups had contended that the ordinance bypassed all vital recommendations of the Justice J S Verma Committee, constituted to suggest changes to the criminal laws in the country, in the aftermath of the gang-rape of a 23-year-old student here on December 16.

Though the government said the ordinance would be open to review once it was placed before Parliament, the women’s groups have planned a protest at Jantar Mantar on Monday and a signature campaign. They are planning another protest on February 7, besides holding a “vigil” outside Parliament when it meets for the Budget Session on February 21.

The “Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance,” passed by the Union Cabinet on Friday, proposed capital punishment for violators in the rarest of rare cases, which was not in consonance with the Verma Committee recommendations.

“The President of India has accorded his assent to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013, today,” a Union Home Ministry release stated on Sunday. The ordinance comes into effect immediately. It will, however, lapse if Parliament fails to pass it within six months.

A section within the government was not in favour of bringing in an ordinance. They wanted the Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs to go through the Verma Committee recommendations and analyse them along with the original criminal amendment bill.

The government went all guns blazing for the ordinance to speed up amendments and checkmate the Opposition, which is likely to launch an onslaught during the Budget Session.

The women’s organisations had held a press conference to denounce the government’s move, saying it was against the spirit of the Verma Committee report. Besides, the ordinance proposes to replace the word “rape” with “sexual assault,” which is another deviation from the Verma report.

Though the BJP has welcomed the government’s initiative in making changes to the criminal laws through an ordinance, the Left parties have expressed reservation