 bill no 12 of  2012 the code of criminal procedure (amendment) bill, 2012 byshrimati sumitra mahajan, mpa billfurther to amend the code of criminal procedure,1973be it enacted by parliament in the sixty-third year of the republic of india as follows:—short title1 this act may be called the code of criminal procedure (amendment) act, 20122 of 19742 in section 164a of the code of criminal procedure, 1973, for sub-section (1), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:—amendment of section 164a510"(1) where, during the stage when an offence of committing rape or attempt tocommit rape is under investigation, it is proposed to get the person of the woman, with whom rape is alleged or attempted to have been committed or attempted, examined by a medical expert, such examination shall be conducted, as far as possible, by a female registered medical practitioner employed in a hospital run by the government or a local authority and in the absence of such a female practitioner, by any other female registered medical practitioner, with the consent of such woman or of a person competent to give such consent on her behalf and such woman shall be sent to such registered medical practitioner within twenty-four hours from the time of receiving the information relating to the commission of such offence" statement of objects and reasonsindia is a vast country, with majority of population being illiterate, living in rural areas and not aware of their rights it is, therefore, essential that law should adequately address the problems of vulnerable group of the society and take care of their interestsinstances of rape have become very common not only in rural areas but also in urban areas of late, most of the urban areas have become unsafe to live and it has become very difficult for girls and women to go anywhere without proper escort and protection the plight of working women who stay in office to work during late hours is distressingin accordance with section 164a of the code of criminal procedure, 1973,   medical examination of a victim of rape shall be conducted by a registered medical practitioner employed in a hospital run by the government or a local authority and in the absence of such a practitioner, by any other registered medical practitioner with the consent of such woman or of such a person competent to give  such consent on her behalfdue to liberal interpretation of section 164a of the code by several high courts, it has become a mandatory practice that medical examination of a rape victim is conducted by a female doctor only (wherever female doctor is available), as the victims would be more comfortable with female doctors it is, therefore, urgently required to make explicit provision in section 164a of the code that the rape victims shall be examined/investigated by female registered medical practitioner only and, in hospitals run by the government or a local authority where such female doctor is not available, by any other available female registered medical practitioner so that the victim is comfortable and does not face any other problemhence this billnew delhi;sumitra mahajanfebruary 22, 2012 annexureextract from the code of criminal procedure, 1973medical examination of the victim of rape164 a (1) where, during the stage when an offence of committing rape or attempt to commit rape is under investigation, it is proposed to get the person of the woman with whom rape is alleged or attempted to have been committed or attempted, examined  by a medical expert, such examination shall be conducted by a registered medical practitioner employed in a hospital run by the government or a local authority and in the absence of such a practitioner, by any other registered medical practitioner,  with the consent of such woman or of a person competent to give such consent on her behalf and such woman shall be sent to such registered medical practitioner within twenty-four hours from the time of receiving the information relating to the commission of such offence———— a billfurther to amend the code of criminal procedure, 1973————(shrimati sumitra mahajan, mp)gmgipmrnd—4107ls(s3)—06032012