Amendments in Criminal Law (Amendment) Act,2013

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The Indian Parliament approved the Criminal Law (Amendment)
Act, 2013 (the Nirbhaya Act) on March 19. It modifies the 1973
Code of Criminal Process, the Indian Evidence Act, and the Indian
Penal Code concerning crimes involving sexual conduct.
The following list of changes brought forth by the Criminal
Law (Amendment) Act 2013:
1. The Indian Penal Code, 1860
A new provision (Section 166 A) was inserted, thereby, making it an
offense for public servants to deny the filing of FIR in crimes against
women, including rape.
The age of consent was raised from 16 years to 18 years of age.
Gang rape was made a separately punishable offense under Section
376 D
Death Penalty was made the prescribed punishment for such
offenses.
2. The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973
Section 154 (1) was amended to include a particular provision
requiring a woman police officer to report information on sexual
offenses. According to the same clause, if the victim suffers from
temporary or permanent mental incapacitation, the statement must
be recorded in her home.
According to Section 197 (1), special punishment was required for
the prosecution of sexual offense cases committed by public
employees while performing their official duties.
The investigation or trial of sexual offenses must be concluded
within two months following the chargesheet filing date, according
to a change made to Section 309 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The addition of Section 357 C required all hospitals, public or
private, to treat rape victims without charging them any fees.
3. The Indian Evidence Act, 1872

The Indian Evidence Act's Section 53 A was added, which rendered
any evidence of "bad character or prior sexual experience"
completely irrelevant.
In the matter of consent, the court shall assume that the lady did
not provide her consent if she states as much in her testimony. The
previous Section 114 A was substituted to accomplish this.
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