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"Include NCW suggestions in changes to rape law"

Special Correspondent

Poornima Advani writes to Shivraj Patil seeking his intervention

NEW DELHI: Poornima Advani, former chairperson of the National Commission for Women (NCW), has sought the intervention of Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil to include the recommendations of the women's panel in the proposed amendments to the rape law.

In a letter addressed to Mr. Patil, Ms. Advani said that despite so much ground work done by the Commission, the necessary statutory changes have not seen the light of day.

The NCW had recommended that the age of consent in rape law should be uniformly raised to 18 years, the definition of rape widened to cover other forms of sexual assault, deletion of the marital rape exception clause and incorporating a statutory provision to provide for compensation to the rape victim. It had also sought deletion of clause 4 of section 155 of the Evidence Act dealing with the prior sexual history of the victim, besides providing for counselling (including trauma counselling) and legal aid to the victim.

Death penalty was not recommended since the human rights activists worldwide are working towards the abolition of capital punishment, the recommendations said. However, rigorous imprisonment for life for the culprit would be a reasonable alternative. These recommendations have been adopted and published by the Commission, Ms. Advani said, adding that these were further discussed at the first All India Directors General of Police and Home Secretaries Conference on women's issues.

She appreciated the Government taking up the amendment of the rape law among others. The subject had been thrashed out in several forums in the past few years and a number of committees and commissions, among them the National Commission for Women and the Law Commission, gave their inputs, she said.

"More specifically, the NCW, with which I happened to be associated for a number of years, had evolved a strategy for obtaining consensus by gathering the opinion of a cross section of people from across the country. As many as 16 State-level consultations involving members of State Women Commissions, NGOs, police officers, and legal academics were held and the outcome of these consultations was published in a report," Ms. Advani said.

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