In an effort to deal sternly with serious sexual crimes against women and girls in Maharashtra, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government on Wednesday approved the two draft Bills, including “Maharashtra Shakti Criminal Law (Maharashtra Amendment) Bill, 2020, which among other things stipulate death penalty, life sentence, hefty fines and speedy trial for the perpetrators.
The Maharashtra government will table the two draft in both the Houses of the State Legislature during the winter session of the State Legislature which will begin here on December 14.
The “Maharashtra Shakti Criminal Law (Maharashtra Amendment) Bill, 2020” has been drafted along the lines of the Andhra Pradesh Disha Act Criminal Law (AP Amendment) Act, 2019. The second draft legislation, which is meant for the implementation of the Shaki legislation, has been named as Special Court and Machinery for Implementation of Maharashtra Criminal Law, 2020.
The two draft bills were approved at a State Cabinet meeting presided over Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray here on Wednesday.
Talking to media persons after the , Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said: “The State Cabinet has cleared the draft bill to amend sections of Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. The two draft bills will be tabled in the State Legislature during the winter session next week. Once the State Legislature approves the two draft, we will send it to the Centre for Presidential assent”.
The Two proposed legislations are aimed at strengthening the framework of the proposed legislation. These two laws will come in handy in addressing effectively complaints of violence against women and children. Among other things, the Shakti legislation has stipulated death sentence as the maximum punishment for the rapists.
“The Shakti law provides for completing investigation and trial within a stipulated time-frame and stringent punishment, including the death penalty and heavy fines, for the culprits, Deshmukh said.
Under the new law, special police teams and separate courts will be set up for investigation and trial of cases against women and children, according to the draft bill.
The perpetrators, if found guilty, will be punished with imprisonment for life for not less than ten years but may extend to the remainder of natural life or with death in cases which have characteristics of being heinous in nature, it said.
Under the proposed legislation, a sum of Rs 10 lakh will be given to an acid attack victim for plastic surgery and facial reconstruction and the amount will be collected as fine from the convict.
Under the new law, the investigation will have to be completed within a period of 15 working days from the date of registration of an offence. Reasons for not doing so shall be recorded in writing by the investigating officer concerned and these may include inability to identify the perpetrator.
Then the probe period will be extended up to seven working days. After a charge-sheet is filed, the trial shall be conducted on a day-to-day basis and completed within a period of 30 working days.
“Some cases will be tried in-camera for recording of evidence of victims and witnesses who are vulnerable,” the draft bill stated.
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.