Men who ogle at women in Kenya will face stiff penalties, if a new Bill is passed into law.
The Bill that seeks to amend the Sexual Offenses Act has been introduced in the National Assembly by Busia Women Representative Florence Mutua.
It has already gone through the First Reading and seeks to expand the definition of indecent act, increases penalty for various offences two fold and outlaws out of court settlements.
The Bill is already as contentious and the Women representative is already spoiling for war and readying herself for a showdown in the National Assembly.
Ms Mutua’s Bill seeks to tie loose ends in the Act that was engineered by then nominated Member of Parliament and now Supreme Court Judge Njoki Ndung’u.
If the law passes, someone will be punished for as little as looking at the opposite sex without their consent.
Mutua’s law has defined what indecent act means to include, any contact between any part of the body of a person with the “genital organ, breast or buttocks and exposure”.
No out court settlement for sexual offenses
The Bill seeks to stop plea bargaining and out of court settlement in cases involving sexual offences. If passed, it will outlaw such agreement by prohibiting any person “who in order to conceal a sexual offence solicits for money, domestic animals or property as compensation or marries off the victim to the offender”.
It prevents police officers from distorting evidence or tampering with the crime scene.
Anyone found liable for these sexual offences will face up to five years in jail.
The Bill further recommends training of police officer’s to specifically handle sexual offences and mandates the National and County governments to create awareness on sexual offences and introduce syllabus in schools that teach sex education.
Source: http://nairobinews.nation.co.ke
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