-PTI Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed a Bill which provides for natural life term or even death for repeat offenders of rape and other stringent punishment for various offences like stalking, voyeurism and acid attacks. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill-2013, brought against the backdrop of the country-wide outrage over Delhi gang rape, also makes it clear that the age of consent for sex would be 18 years, which was a sticking point...

-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 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...

-The Hindu India, Islamic and Western nations came together at the U.N. on Friday to put in place a potentially far-reaching framework for combating violence against women, regardless of variations in religious, cultural or social norms across nations. Greeted by loud cheers and applause, the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) announced the “historic” accord at the U.N. headquarters in New York, winning particular praise for getting the multilateral membership of...

-AFP UNITED NATIONS: Muslim and western nations on Friday overcame deep divisions to agree a historic United Nations declaration setting out a code of conduct for combating violence against women. Iran, Libya, Sudan and other Muslim nations agreed to language stating that violence against women and girls could not be justified by "any custom, tradition or religious consideration." Western nations, particularly from Scandinavia, toned down demands for references to gay rights and sexual...