Eve-teasing ‘Act’ is only a Bill: State

The draft Bill on Maharashtra Prevention of Eve-teasing has not yet been enforced and is yet to become an Act. The Information and Public Relations department of the Maharashtra government wrongly stated on Friday that the private member Bill had become an Act. 

On Saturday morning, the officials responsible for issuing the wrong statement on behalf of the government apologised to Home Minister RR Patil. On his part, the Home Minister emphasised that there was no Act on eve-teasing. 

But, he indicated that as the issue had evoked sharp reaction from society, the government would seriously consider placing it before the Cabinet for further discussion. The government issued a clarification saying it had made a mistake by stating a law had been enacted to make eve-teasing a cognisable and non-bailable offence. 

A statement issued by the government’s publicity department said, “There was a private member Bill seeking a law on eve-teasing that was discussed on March 29, 2006 in the state Assembly. It mistook the Bill for an Act on eve-teasing.” The government regretted its mistake.