-The Times of India The amended anti-rape law does not include prostitution as a form of exploitation unlike the ordinance that criminalized sex work. The Criminal Law Amendment Bill, 2013 makes a distinction between sexual exploitation and consensual adult sex work. The move was welcomed by sex workers and activists who had slammed the ordinance that defined prostitution as exploitation. The ordinance cleared by the Cabinet on the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill,...

-Reuters India approved on Thursday a tougher new law to punish sex crimes, including death for repeat rape offenders, after the fatal gang rape of a student in December sparked unprecedented protests over the treatment of women in the country. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2013 or "anti-rape law" puts in place a slew of new provisions and tougher punishments, which include criminalising voyeurism and stalking and making acid attacks and human...

-The Times of India Faced with all-around political opposition, the cabinet on Monday retained 18 as age of consent for consensual sex, graded punishment for stalking and voyeurism and deleted "persistent watching" as an offence while clearing a new law to protect women. The changes were agreed to after a meeting on Monday where political leaders raised concerns ranging from genuine apprehensions to frivolous over the possibility of "misuse" of tough laws...

-The Indian Express  Buckling under pressure from political parties, the government Monday agreed to retain 18 years as the age for consensual sex. It also decided to dilute the provisions on stalking and voyeurism in the proposed Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013, which seeks to strengthen laws to deal with sexual crimes against women. The changes were cleared at a Cabinet meeting and the Bill will be introduced in Parliament Tuesday. The decision...

-The Independent Hardliners defied as historic blueprint to tackle violence against girls and women is agreed at the United Nations A remarkable coalition of Conservative Muslim, Roman Catholic, and liberal Western countries have joined together to approve a historic United Nations blueprint to combat violence against women and girls. In doing so, they ignored strong objections from Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood that it clashed with Islamic principles and sought to destroy the family. But...