Amid its disapproval by the women groups, President of India Pranab Mukherjee signed the anti-rape law ordinance based on some of the recommendations of Justice Verma panel. The government tried to quell the opposition to the same by holding that it was open to consultations and changes.
The ordinance will now need to be passed by the Parliament within six months and is likely to be done in the Budget Session that begins on Feb 21.
Foreign minister Salman Khurshid said when the Parliament was not in session, all you could do was bring an ordinance. "It does not mean that widespread consultation cannot take place when the actual bill is brought into parliament," he said.
Law minister Ashwani Kumar also echoed Khurshid's views and said the government would be happy to review the ordinance if required.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) leader Brinda Karat on Saturday said her party disapproved the new anti-rape law ordinance that was cleared by the Union Cabinet on Friday.
"We disapprove of the ordinance," Karat told media on Saturday.
"The content of the ordinance is doing injustice to the Justice Verma recommendations because it is highly selective in what it has included in the ordinance," she said.
Meanwhile, women rights groups also rejected the ordinance and had urged President Pranab Mukherjee not to sign it.
Human rights lawyer Vrinda Grover told media: "The ordinance is complete betrayal of the faith that people had put in the government."
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