Laws to tackle violence against women

The Criminal Law Amendment Bill to tackle violence against women has been passed.But so much more has to be done to change the status of women in India. For making punishment for violence does not necessarily reduce crimes. More ways will be devised by criminal minds of men who will want to exploit women who are weak and fragile.Just by passing a bill, will not be sufficient to help women.
The legal age for consent is 18 and not 16 as proposed earlier. Stalking and voyeurism are bailable when committed for the first time; after the first,they will not be bailable. If there is a gang rape or a minor is violated upon, 20 years imprisonment or lifetime imprisonment will be the punishment. Even death penalty will be given if the victim is reduced to a vegetative state. Army men cannot be accused of crime of rape and are immune from this law; this is very unfair. Marital rape has not been dealt with.Child trafficking should be made a grave violation and should be prevented.Politicians charged with rape should be prevented from running for election. When the seven hour debate was telecast live on TV, we found elected persons had lacked dedication to deal with crimes against women. The comments made by them showed how backward they are in their mindsets.The casual attitude of the legislators was highly deplorable.
Only 200 out of 540 elected members were present. Irrelevant comments made the event look like mockery. As this legislation was made, more reports of violence were coming in.One wonders, if the Indian population knows that this criminal activity will be invite strong punishment. If they knew, they would not commit it.
Empowering the women and changing of social values can reduce violence; that will take a long long time to materilize. Laws can give a small consolation to the victim, but they really cannot reduce crime rates.Minds of many men are not clean and women have to defend themselves from such men.