Bill on Crime Against Women Passes in India

Five men in Madhya Pradesh, India, were led to court this week to face charges in the March 15 gang rape of a Swiss tourist.

Five men in Madhya Pradesh, India, were led to court this week to face charges in the March 15 gang rape of a Swiss tourist.

NEW DELHI — India’s Parliament passed a comprehensive bill on Thursday to impose stronger penalties on men who attack women and to criminalize offenses like stalking and voyeurism.

The bill passed quickly in the upper house of Parliament on Thursday; the debate in the lower house on Tuesday was longer, lasting seven hours. President Pranab Mukherjee is expected to sign it into law shortly.  “I think this is an important moment,” said Vrinda Grover, a women’s rights advocate and lawyer. “We have taken quite a few steps forward.”  The passage of the bill comes less than three months after a New Delhi physiotherapy student was gang-raped on a moving bus and later died from her injuries. The assault drew widespread outrage and prompted protests across India, some of them violent, over the issue of women’s safety….

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