Table of Contents
NEWS
- Jammu and Kashmir has now become the first state in India to ban ‘sextortion’ by introducing amendments to the J&K Criminal Laws Bill and the Prevention of Corruption Bill, 2018.
KEY FEATURES
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- The two new Bills — Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2018, and Jammu and Kashmir Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018 —- were approved by the State Administrative Council (SAC) led by Governor Satya Pal Malik
- A “specific offence Sextortion” has been “inserted” in Ranbir Penal Code.
- Amendments are being made in section 154, 161 and Schedule of Criminal Procedure Code and section 53 A of the Evidence Act so as to bring sextortion at par with similar offences prescribed under Ranbir Penal Code
- Amendment is being made in Prevention of Corruption Act to amend the definition of misconduct and to provide that demand for sexual favours would also constitute misconduct within the meaning of section 5
- The Jammu and Kashmir Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018 seeks to amend the Ranbir Penal Code, whereby specific offence under section 354 E is being inserted to provide for the offence of ‘Sextortion‘.
According to the amendments
- Any persons in a position of authority or in a fiduciary relationship, or a public servant who abuses such position or fiduciary relationship to employ physical or non-physical form of coercion to extort, request or demand sexual favours from any woman in exchange of some benefits or favours that such person is empowered to grant or withhold shall be guilty of offence of sextortion
- They make it clear that “it shall be no defence that the sexual benefit was derived with the consent of the victim.
- Any person committing the offence of sextortion shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term not be less than three years, but may extend to five years and with fine. The offence is “non-bailable” and “not compoundable”.
Politics
- Parties like the PDP and NC questioned the Governor’s move, criticising the focus on legislation as they saw the Centre’s rule as a temporary arrangement until a new elected government took over.
Sextortion
- Sextortion is a form of sexual exploitation that employs non-physical forms of coercion to extort sexual favors from the victim. Sextortion refers to the broad category of sexual exploitation in which abuse of power is the means of coercion, as well as to the category of sexual exploitation in which threatened release of sexual images or information is the means of coercion.
Ranbir Penal Code
- Jammu and Kashmir State Ranbir Penal Code or RPC the main criminal code applicable in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Indian Penal Code is not applicable here under Article 370 of the Constitution of India. It came into force in 1932 The code was introduced during the reign of Dogra dynasty with Ranbir Singh as its ruler. It was made on the lines of Indian Penal Code prepared by Thomas Babington Macaulay
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