Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday defended the Centre’s decision to promulgate an ordinance on sexual violence against women, saying it would act as an immediate deterrent against potential criminals.
“As we were expected to be prompt, we have brought this ordinance. The advantage of the ordinance is that it will amend the criminal laws immediately,” he said.
And Chidambaram, who addressed a Group of Ministers (GoM) briefing along with his Cabinet colleague and Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari, announced the measures taken by the Centre as a result of the Ordinance. Moreover, the ministers welcomed suggestions from the public to replace the Ordinance with a Bill in Parliament.
Emphasising that the Ordinance was only the starting point of a legislative process, the Finance Minister said the efforts would come to fruition when the Bill is passed by Parliament and subsequently receives the Presidential assent.
“We are dealing with a grave issue. I appeal to everyone to deal with it with utmost seriousness and sensitivity. I appeal to everyone to respect the legislative process enshrined in the Constitution,” he said. Chidambaram said the Centre would wait for the report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the pending Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2012 to prepare the draft Bill to replace the ordinance. He said that some of the provisions of the pending Bill have been incorporated in the ordinance.
He also clarified that none of the Justice Verma Committee’s recommendations had been left out in the Ordinance. According to him, “some recommendations of the Justice Verma Committee have not been incorporated in the Ordinance because of divergence of opinion on the issue. These issues require more consultations. Marital rape is a difficult issue in which we need more consultations. Some clauses like AFSPA need more discussions”.
On the demand for amending the Juvenile Justice Act, the Finance Minister said that the Juvenile Justice Act was a separate law.