-The Hindustan Times The government has shielded its officials from harassment by anti-corruption sleuths but left the private sector at the mercy of the police under a proposed anti-bribery law targeting the private sector. The home ministry’s proposed amendment to the Indian Penal Code (IPC) criminalises bribery amongst individuals, trusts and firms and prescribes a maximum jail of 7 years for the guilty. But it gives the police a free hand to...

-The Telegraph Ten-year-old Ayush Chauhan was smart as well as lucky. The Class IV student gave a fictitious phone number to the three kidnappers who had dragged him into a car on a Ghaziabad street on May 11. As they kept trying the number to make a ransom call to his father, Ayush gave them the slip. Eighteen-day-old Saumya Lodi had no such luck when two masked men kidnapped her from her home...

-The Times of India Changes in laws dealing with sexual assault approved by the Cabinet define "position of authority" to include social, political and economic dominance over a victim of rape - parameters wide enough to encompass most forms of exploitation. The fine print of Thursday's Cabinet decision also retains an important caveat to making 18 the age of consent with an exception being made -- with reference to Section 375 of...

-The Hindu The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a proposal to replace the word “rape” with the phrase “sexual assault”, making it a gender-neutral offence and identified acid attacks as a separate offence punishable by a maximum of ten years. Union Minister for Women & Child Development (WCD) Krishna Tirath confirmed that the Cabinet had given the go-ahead to the draft proposal. “Besides the two proposals that have been accepted, it has...

-The Times of India Broadening definition of rape is a good first step, but higher conviction rate is a must The government's move to make rape a gender-neutral crime is a welcome step towards harmonising current anomalies in laws relating to sexual offence. The proposed changes are aimed at broadening the definition of rape, so far restricted to penile and vaginal penetration. The replacement of the word 'rape' with 'sexual assault', a...