LawMin says 'no' friction with HomeMin on anti-rape Bill

Rejecting suggestions that ministries are split over some provisions of the proposed anti-rape Bill, Law Minister Ashwani Kumar has said proposals are brought before the Union Cabinet after sufficient discussions.

He also said that there was no finality in law making and the government was open for persuasion when the proposed Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013, comes up for discussion in Parliament. He expressed confidence that the ordinance on crimes against women, which will be replaced by the proposed Bill, would not be allowed to lapse.

"There is almost no difference between the law ministry and the home ministry," Kumar told Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN's Devil's Advocate programme. "In the three or four drafts that have been discussed, we have given our proposals and I am confidant that early next week the Cabinet will be able to consider the Bill," he said.

To a poser on as to why the Cabinet did not consider the Bill during Thursday's meeting, he said it was not put before the Cabinet on that day as the home ministry took time to study the proposals put forth by the his ministry.

Kumar rejected suggestions that several of his Cabinet colleagues would oppose the various provisions of the Bill.

"The ordinance was discussed significantly but there were no fundamental objections. There could be differences of opinion on one or two aspects and that is why the Cabinet meets to discuss the issues threadbare," he said. He said the government will be able to bring the Bill before both Houses of Parliament before March 22, when Parliament takes a recess.