The Maharashtra Government on Wednesday tabled in the State Assembly a report of the joint selection committee of the state legislature on “Maharashtra Shakti Criminal Law (Maharashtra Amendment) Bill, 2020, a legislation to deal sternly with serious sexual crimes against women and girls like rape and acid attacks--- which among other things has stipulated death penalty, life sentence, hefty fines and speedy trial for the perpetrators.
Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil tabled the recommendations of a joint committee of the State Legislature on the
“Shakti Bill” as it has come to be known as.
The “Maharashtra Shakti Criminal Law (Maharashtra Amendment) Bill, 2020”-- which has been modelled along the lines of the Andhra Pradesh Disha Act Criminal Law (AP Amendment) Act, 2019 – had been tabled in both the Houses of the State Legislature in December last year.
The state government had later referred the bill to the joint section committee of the State for vetting and improving the provisions in the bill.
“The joint selection committee held 13 meetings and later submitted the recommendations,” the minister said.
The bill provides for capital punishment, life sentence, hefty fines and speedy trial for the perpetrators for crimes against women and children, specifies deadline of 30 days to complete the probe since the day the complaint in such cases is lodged and puts the onus on social media platforms as well as internet provider companies to share the data for police investigation.
While presenting the recommendations of the joint selection committee, Walse-Patil said: “The joint selection committee has among other things recommended that the police probe in such rape cases should be over within 30 days and in case it does not happen, another 30 days can be given after specifying the reasons from Special Inspector General or Police Commissioner.”
The recommendations say that if the officer probing the offences against women and children demand sharing of the data, it should be done within seven days, otherwise punishment will be awarded for the failure on the part of social media platforms or internet/mobile data providers. Failure to do so may attract imprisonment of up to three months or/and fine worth Rs 25 lakh.
As per the recommendations, section 326 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) applied in case of acid attacks will be amended to make provision of minimum 15 years to maximum life imprisonment to the guilty along with monetary fine. “The expenditure of plastic surgery and face reconstruction operations will be taken care from the minister said.
The earlier version of the bill had done away with the provision of anticipatory bail to individuals accused of assault on women. The committee cancelled this provision after taking opinion from senior lawyers. It also made the provision of minimum one year to maximum three years of imprisonment and Rs one lakh fine on those who make false complaints of sexual assault.
“A new section 354E of the IPC has been proposed to take action against those outraging the modesty of women, men and transgenders through electronic or digital means. Section 100 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) will be amended, as per which two social workers granted by the state government's Women and Child Welfare Department or two public servants can be taken as independent witnesses in case of sexual harassment case,” Walse-Patil said.
It may be recalled that the Maharashtra government had announced on December 16 2019 that it would come out with an anti-rape law along the line of the one brought in by the Andhra government in the second week of December last year. The Andhra Pradesh Criminal Law Amendment Act 2019 among other thing stipulates death sentences to convicts in rape cases within 21 days.
After 24-year-old lady lecturer was set ablaze by her spurned suitor near her college at Hinganghat in Maharashtra’s Wardha district in February last year, there was a wide-spread debate in the state about the need for bringing in a stern law to deal with the accused in the serious crimes against women and girls in the State
The then State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had along with top Home department and police officials visited Andhra Pradesh to study the law brought in by the southern state.