NEW DELHI // The Indian cabinet yesterday cleared the draft of a controversial new anti-rape bill that lays down harsher punishments for a broader range of sexual crimes.
The proposed legislation is the next step in the government's attempts to address sexual violence in response to the public outcry that followed the gang rape and murder of a young woman in New Delhi in December.
If passed by parliament, the law would make gang rape punishable by sentences ranging from 20 years to life imprisonment. A rapist whose attack leads to the death or paralysis of the victim could face the death penalty.
The bill also criminalises predatory sexual behaviour such as stalking, the forcible stripping of women and voyeurism.
The law would also reduce the age of sexual consent from 18 to 16. And it would define rape strictly as a crime committed by a man against a woman, instead of beinga gender-neutral term.
But the government faces a race against time to introduce the bill in parliament and enact it into law before a parliamentary recess begins on next Wednesday.
The government signalled its intent to crack down on sexual offences last month when President Pranab Mukherjee signed an ordinance that prescribed more stringent punishments for such crimes. It will lapse on April 4 and be replaced by the new bill.
But it has drawn mixed responses from politicians, activists and women's rights groups.
Krishna Tirath, the minister for women and child development, opposed the reduction of the age of consent, saying it would "send the wrong message to society" by encouraging 16- and 17-year-olds to have consensual sex.
She said she was also concerned that "men would get away by having sexual intercourse with girls who have crossed the age of 16".
But Kavita Krishnan, the secretary of the All India Progressive Women's Association, welcomed the lowering of the age of consent and said that the morality of young people should not enter into a consideration of the law.
"You can't be criminalising consensual sexual activity between two 17-year-olds and equating that to statutory rape," she said.
But she added that the bill's definition of rape was unsatisfactory.
"We had been objecting to the accused in rape cases being considered gender-neutral, because we didn't want adult men accusing women of rape," said Ms Krishnan.
"But we thought the victim must be gender neutral. Rape can be perpetrated on a man, a woman, a transgender, anybody. We still hope to get that changed."
As has been the norm in Indian law, the proposed law does not recognise or punish marital rape. Nor does it remove the immunity from prosecution granted to soldiers in conflict zones.
ssubramanian@thenational.ae
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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What is a calorie?
A food calorie, or kilocalorie, is a measure of nutritional energy generated from what is consumed.
One calorie, is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1°C.
A kilocalorie represents a 1,000 true calories of energy.
Energy density figures are often quoted as calories per serving, with one gram of fat in food containing nine calories, and a gram of protein or carbohydrate providing about four.
Alcohol contains about seven calories a gram.
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The story in numbers
18
This is how many recognised sects Lebanon is home to, along with about four million citizens
450,000
More than this many Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, with about 45 per cent of them living in the country’s 12 refugee camps
1.5 million
There are just under 1 million Syrian refugees registered with the UN, although the government puts the figure upwards of 1.5m
73
The percentage of stateless people in Lebanon, who are not of Palestinian origin, born to a Lebanese mother, according to a 2012-2013 study by human rights organisation Frontiers Ruwad Association
18,000
The number of marriages recorded between Lebanese women and foreigners between the years 1995 and 2008, according to a 2009 study backed by the UN Development Programme
77,400
The number of people believed to be affected by the current nationality law, according to the 2009 UN study
4,926
This is how many Lebanese-Palestinian households there were in Lebanon in 2016, according to a census by the Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue committee
In 2018, the ICRC received 27,756 trace requests in the Middle East alone. The global total was 45,507.
There are 139,018 global trace requests that have not been resolved yet, 55,672 of these are in the Middle East region.
More than 540,000 individuals approached the ICRC in the Middle East asking to be reunited with missing loved ones in 2018.
The total figure for the entire world was 654,000 in 2018.
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Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
The specs: 2018 Nissan Altima
Price, base / as tested: Dh78,000 / Dh97,650
Engine: 2.5-litre in-line four-cylinder
Power: 182hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 244Nm @ 4,000rpm
Transmission: Continuously variable tranmission
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.6L / 100km
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
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Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
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Like a Fading Shadow
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Translated from the Spanish by Camilo A. Ramirez
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About Seez
Company name/date started: Seez, set up in September 2015 and the app was released in August 2017
Founder/CEO name(s): Tarek Kabrit, co-founder and chief executive, and Andrew Kabrit, co-founder and chief operating officer
Based in: Dubai, with operations also in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon
Sector: Search engine for car buying, selling and leasing
Size: (employees/revenue): 11; undisclosed
Stage of funding: $1.8 million in seed funding; followed by another $1.5m bridge round - in the process of closing Series A
Investors: Wamda Capital, B&Y and Phoenician Funds
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