Even as disturbing reports of alleged rapes continue to trickle in with alarming regularity, India’s Parliament recently passed the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013. The notoriously inert legislative process received a shot in the arm when the brutal rape and murder of a student in Delhi in December 2012 engendered national protests. A judicial committee headed by a former Chief Justice of India (the Verma Committee) submitted a list of recommended amendments in January 2013, and an ordinance was promulgated to put (some of) these measures into effect temporarily. The 2013 Bill, once signed by the President, will replace the ordinance.
The 2013 Bill amends provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Indian Evidence Act, and the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to sexual offenses. Some of the major, and most controversial, changes include:
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