India passes Bill to toughen rape law

INDIA: The Indian Parliament has passed a Bill containing more severe punishment for sex offenders including the death penalty in case a victim dies. On Tuesday, members of the Lok Sabha, which is the Lower House of the country’s Parliament, approved the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, which sets new penalties for stalking, groping, voyeurism and acid attacks. Rapists will be sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison under the legislation, which is to be passed by the upper house of the Parliament.

“This is just a first step in a journey of 1,000 miles,” Harsimrat Kaur Badal, a female MP from the regional Shiromani Akali Dal party, said.

Also on Tuesday, a female British tourist jumped out of a hotel window for fear of being sexually assaulted in the city of Agra in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

The tourist, who was not named, jumped from the first floor after two men tried to enter her room in the Hotel Agra Mahal at around 4:00 a.m. local time on Monday.

She “got frightened so she ran to the other end of the room and jumped out of the window”, said Pawan Kumar, the superintendent of police in Agra. The manager of the hotel was detained, and will face trial in a court of law.

The woman, who was in her thirties, was taken to a hospital to receive treatment for her injuries caused by the jump.

On December 16, 2012, a 23-year-old medical student was gang-raped and savagely beaten in a moving bus and thrown out on to the street of the capital.

Delhi is notorious for crimes against women and using public transport at night or travelling alone is considered to be a big risk.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, 522 rape cases were reported in Delhi and the National Capital Region in 2011, the highest in any metro in the country, while over 650 rape cases have been reported in the capital so far this year.

People accuse officers patrolling the capital’s streets of being insensitive to sexual crimes and ignoring related complaints. They say the country’s slow judicial system also makes sure that few women dare to make a complaint, while only one third of accused rapists get punished.

Experts believe that unless there is a severe punishment for the rapists, this trend will never stop.

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