-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...

Groups from across India gathered in Delhi recently to assess the Forest Rights Act’s journey since 2006. The law is often dubbed as ‘landmark’ because it ended the age-old illegality surrounding communities living in forest areas by entitling them to individual and community land title. It also went beyond the colonial paradigms of the forest bureaucracy to recognise community efforts at protecting and preserving forests. Numerous groups and individuals working...

-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 Hindu Lacking support for stringent provisions from parties,government comes up with consensus bill Under pressure from the Opposition, the Union Cabinet on Monday approved a diluted version of the bill dealing with sexual crimes against women. The new version will be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. This was just hours after the UPA failed to convince opposition leaders, primarily the BJP, the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Janata...