 bill no 14 of 2012 the incest offences bill, 2012 bydr mahendrasinh p chauhan, mpa billto provide for punishment for the offences relating to incest and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-third year of the republic of india as follows:—short title1 this act may be called the incest offences act, 2012 2 (1) in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—definitions(a) ''prescribed'' means prescribed by rules made under this act; andfor the use of pornographic material or indulging in molestation by deceit or by threatening45 of 1860 2 of 19745(2) the words and expressions used herein and not defined in this act but defined inthe indian penal code, 1860 or the code of criminal procedure, 1973 shall  have the  same meanings, respectively, assigned to them in those lawsincest offences3 (1) whoever knowingly engages or attempts to engage in sexual intercourse with aperson, who is his close family member, shall be guilty of an offence of incest and shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall be not less than ten years and shall also be liable to fine:10provided that if the close family member is a child under eighteen years of age, theoffender shall be punished with life imprisonment(2) whoever knowingly sexually exploits or attempts to sexually exploit any person,who is his close family member, shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall be not less than five years but which may extend upto seven years, and shall also be liable to fine15(3) for the purposes of sub-sections (1) and (2), the court shall not take cognizance ofthe fact that the act or attempt of sexual intercourse with or sexual exploitation of the close family member  has happened with the consent of that memberexplanation—for the purposes of this section, "close family members" means the following persons:—20(a) a parent including step parent or grandparent, of either sex; (b) a child or other lineal descendent; and (c) a brother or sister including half-brother or half-sister; and (d) a guardian, uncle, aunt or any other close relative25burden of proof4 notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, inany trial under this act, the burden of proof as to the innocence shall be on the accused and the victim shall have the right to lead evidence in rebuttal5 the proceedings under this act shall be held in camera, if it is so desired by thevictim, by a special court and, as far as possible, before a women magistrateproceedingsto be incamera30statement of victim to be recorded at residence6 any statement of the victim under this act shall be recorded at her or his residenceor at the place of her or his choice and as far as possible by a woman police officer in the presence of the victim's parents or guardian or near relatives or social worker of the locality, as the case may be2 of 19747 notwithstanding anything contained in the code of criminal procedure, 1973, anoffence under this act shall be cognizable and non-bailable35offences to be cognizable and nonbailable8 notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, nocourt other than a high court or the supreme court of india shall have the authority to grant anticipatory bail to any person accused of committing an offence under this actbar on granting anticipatory bail9 save as otherwise provided under this act, the provisions of the code of criminalprocedure, 1973 shall be applicable to any trial under this act402 of 1974provisions of the code of criminal procedure to be applied10 if any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this act, the central government may, by order, published in the official gazette, make such provisions notpower to remove difficultiesinconsistent with the provisions of this act, as may appear to be necessary or expedient for removing the difficulty:provided that no order shall be made under this section after the expiry of a period of three years from the commencement of this act511 the provisions of this act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistenttherewith contained in any other law for the time being in forceact to have overriding effectpower to make rules12 (1) the central government may, by notification in the gazette of india, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act10(2) every rule made under this act shall be laid, as soon as may be, after it is made,before each house of parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both houses agree in making any modifications in the rule or both the houses agree that the rule should  not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule statement of objects and reasonsas of today, there is no law on incest offences in india any incidence of incest is treated as rape and if it is related to the abuse of a boy, it is covered under section 377 of the indian penal code last year, a mumbai court let off a father who raped his daughter as the heinousness of his crime was not recognised as a separately punishable offence most of the cases of incest offences go unreported in india because the family is almost considered sacred and any act of child abuse, if it happens, is met with disbelief and denial at times, even the judges do not believe that a girl or boy can be abused by family members or relatives activists demanding a law to tackle incest believe that it is a reflection of the society's refusal to acknowledge that it exists the society is in a state of denial that incest does exist, whereas the bare truth is that it is prevalent in our society and only a miniscule number of cases are reported in contrast, many developed countries recognise incest as a serious crime the united kingdom has a law to govern offences of incest since 1908, which provides punishment with imprisonment up to a period of fourteen years such laws also exist in canada, germany, hungary, ireland, israel, italy, the netherlands, united states, brazil and in a host of other countries incest is more common in india than in other countries as there is no law to govern such offences in our country child rights activists have been demanding a specific law on incest for quite some time now the demand was more vociferous, when section 376 of the indian penal code was amended to include policmen and hospital and prison staff who abuse women in their custody and the issue of incest—where a parent or relative abuses a child in his or her care—was overlooked it is difficult to fathom the agony and trauma of a child who has been a victim of molestation or incest offence by their known or family members  the child suffers this stigma throughout his or her life and has to re-live the pain and trauma over and over again it is, therefore, high time that a strict and separate law is enacted to counter incest offences in our societyhence this billnew delhi;mahendrasinh p chauhannovember 16, 2011 memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 12 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill as the rules will relate to matters of detail only, the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character———— a billto provide for punishment for the offences relating to incest and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto————(dr mahendrasinh p chauhan, mp)gmgipmrnd—4119ls(s3)—07032012