Nigeria Senate Pass Bill To Make Male Gender Capable Of Being Raped (Gender Neutral)

     

The Nigerian Senate has passed a bill to amend the Criminal Code seeks to remove the gender restrictions on the issue of rape. The provision on the criminal code only recognizes the female gender as the only gender capable of being raped. If the amendment becomes law it will make the male gender able to be rape victims.     

 * Section 357 (Definition of rape) – which states that “any person who has unlawful carnal knowledge of a woman or girl, without her consent, or with her consent, if the consent is obtained by force or by means of threats or intimidation of any kind, or by fear of harm, or be means of false and fraudulent representation as to the nature of the act, or, in the case of a married woman, by personating her husband, is guilty of an offence which is called rape.”

It is amended in line 1 by substituting for the words, ‘woman or girl, without her consent, or with her consent’, the words, ‘any person, without consent, or with consent,’
And in line 3, by substituting for the words ‘in the case of a married woman, by personating her husband, is guilty of an offence which is called rape’

The clause has been amended to maintain gender neutrality of the provision as the offence can be committed by both gender.

Another amendment to the Criminal Code is to remove the statute of limitations in the period offenders in cases of defilement can be prosecuted. The amendment sought to remove time restrictions for prosecuting sexual abuse cases by increasing the period from 2 months to as many years as the victim decides to seek redress in the court of law. 

The bill titled, “A bill for an Act to amend the Criminal Code Act CAP C.38 Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2004” is sponsored by Oluremi Tinubu.

The Senate also passed an amendment bill to the Criminal Code to change the jail term for kidnapping from 10 years to life imprisonment.

Senator Bamidele of Ekiti state said, “The bill will address lingering issues starting with statute of limitation in the prosecution of rape and as well as defilement cases and it will curb the menance which has been on the rise.“That the statute of limitation has been omitted from the violence against persons act 2015 which is the prevailing law of the subject matter. The bill seeks to amend the criminal code act of 1916 and not that of the states. The bill when enacted will apply to the federal high court

“The Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to which this bill was referred, having considered same, recommends as follows; that the senate pass the criminal code act CAP C38 LFN 2004 (amendment) bill 2020,” he said.

The bill will be sent to the House of Representative for it to be approved and it will then be sent to the president for his assent.