-Outlook Leading women organisations today rejected the ordinance on sexual crimes against women terming it as "complete betrayal" of people's faith in the government and urged President Pranab Mukherjee not to sign it. "The ordinance is a complete betrayal of the people's faith. We are alarmed at the complete lack of transparency displayed by the government in proposing the ordinance as an emergency measure," women rights activist Vrinda Gover said. The women activists,...

-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...

-The Hindu Sudha Sundararaman, General Secretary of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), writes: I am writing this on behalf of the women’s organisations which held a Press conference on Tuesday at the Indian Women’s Press Club in New Delhi in which representatives of seven women’s organisations were present, and two more were signatories to the statement. Those present were: AIDMAM (Asha Kowtal, Deepika Shokeen); AIDWA (Sudha Sundararaman, Kirti Singh, Jagmati Sangwan);...