WHY DISHA BILL HASN’T BECOME AN ACT YET?

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The AP state government has prestigiously introduced the DISHA BILL to safeguard the women from abusers, rapists. The main aim of the bill is to provide justice and to punish the culprit within 21 working days.

This bill has been appreciated by all the other state governments in India and the states like ODISHA, BIHAR & NEW DELHI took the draft of the DISHA bill to know the key points and the possibilities.

DISHA BILL HIGHLIGHTS

The government of India has launched a National Registry of Sexual offenders but the database is not digitized and is not accessible to the public. In the Andhra Pradesh Disha Act, 2019, the Andhra Pradesh government will establish, operate and maintain a register in electronic form, to be called the ‘Women & Children Offenders Registry’.

At present, provision for punishing an offender in a rape case is a fixed jail term leading to life imprisonment or the death sentence. The Disha Act 2019 has prescribed the death penalty for rape crimes where there is adequate conclusive evidence. Provision is given by amending Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

The government of AP has also announced that they are going to establish special courts in every district to ensure speedy trials. These courts would deal with the cases of offenses against women, Child rapes, harassment, and all the other cases against POCSO (Protection of children from sexual offenses) Act.

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But, why is it being not implemented even after these many days of passing the bill in the AP assembly?

  • The DISHA BILL is generally an idea in the beginning. The cabinet of AP first discusses the bill in the cabinet meeting and approves it.
  • Then the bill will be given to committees for further verification and possibilities. The assembly committees look for judicial and legislative obstacles.
  • After the approval by the assembly committees, the resolution was passed by the CM of AP JAGAN MOHAN REDDY in the assembly of AP for a voting method of approval.
  • During the voting, the bill was passed unanimously by the Members of a legislative assembly.
  • Later, the bill is given to the Governor. The governor sign on the bill is set to be its approval and the DISHA BILL becomes DISHA ACT which is ready to implement.

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But, for this bill, the AP government has named it as a CONCURRENT BILL. The CM of AP announced that they are placing the bill in the concurrent list. The concurrent list consists of 52 items in it. Earlier it was 47.

The bill that is put under this concurrent list needs to be approved by both the central and the states. State and central have a 40-60 percentage of power on the bill. As the DISHA BILL says that the culprit is to punished within 21 working days, it involves being rejected by the Human right commission.

Now if the center finds any faulty or mistake in the law made by the states, then they send back the bill for correction to the states. After corrections and considerations made by the Parliament against the bill are sent back.

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Now after the bill is approved by the Parliament, it needs to be signed by the President to become an ACT. As there are mentions of special courts in the bill, it may be considered for judicial verification by the central government as well.

So, the implementation may take a very long time. Patience is key.