Center Sends Disha Bill Back to AP

The Union Government had sent back the Andhra Pradesh Disha Bill – 2019 to the State Government. There are some technical issues with the bill and the Center sent it back asking the state government to correct them. Apparently, the entries in the Seventh Schedule of the Bill are flawed.

The state officials will make the necessary corrections and send the bill back. It is known to our readers that the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly Friday passed the Andhra Pradesh Disha Bill, 2019 (Andhra Pradesh Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2019) in December.

The bill provides for awarding death sentence for offenses of rape and gangrape and expediting trials of such cases to within 21 days. The Act envisages the completion of investigation in seven days and trial in 14 working days, where there is adequate conclusive evidence, and reducing the total judgment time to 21 days from the existing four months.

The AP Disha Act also prescribes life imprisonment for other sexual offenses against children and includes Section 354 F and 354 G in IPC.