-Outlook Panaji: India Against Corruption (IAC) has urged Goa Governor B V Wanchoo to withhold his assent to recently amended Goa Lokayukta Act, saying some clauses in the legislation might render the anti-corruption ombudsman a "toothless" entity. "Section 16 (A) in the amended Act, which says that minister may resign if found guilty by Lokayukta should be replaced with the word 'shall'. The existing amendment makes the entire body a toothless one",...

-Outlook  Marital rape will also attract stringent punishment under the ordinance proposed by the Centre. Sex by husband with his wife during separation without consent will lead upto seven years of imprisonment, according to the proposed ordinance on anti-rape law approved by the Union Cabinet yesterday. Justice J S Verma Committee recommended deletion of IPC's Section 376A (Intercourse by a man with his wife during separation) under which currently maximum punishment is two...

-CNN-IBN While the Cabinet has approved a new law after examining Justice Verma Committee recommendations on punishing sex offenders, women groups have called the ordinance a dilution of the Verma panel recommendations. This came as the ordinance passed by the Cabinet remained silent on the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. Reports say that women groups will protest against the ordinance in the capital. Meanwhile, former IPS officer and activist Kiran Bedi welcomed...

-The Indian Express The Union Cabinet Friday allowed capital punishment for those convicted in extreme cases of sexual assault and a minimum prison term of 20 years for gangrape, as it approved an ordinance to strengthen laws to help fight sexual crimes against women. The ordinance implements many recommendations of the Justice J S Verma panel that was constituted after the December 16 gangrape of a 23-year-old woman in a bus in...

-The Indian Express The deafening silence from official circles on the Verma committee recommendations is in sharp contrast to the widespread well-deserved appreciation that the committee has received. It is common for governments to form such committees to buy time and take the heat off themselves. Perhaps that was the government’s intention when it set up the committee at the height of the protests in the wake of the brutal gangrape...