By Chidinma Ufomadu
The Senate, on Tuesday, passed a bill that acknowledges boys and men as rape victims.
The Chairman of the Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Senator Surajudeen Ajibola Basiru, gave a report on the bill on Tuesday, after which it passed its third reading.
The recent bill passed by the senate also includes a maximum of 10-year imprisonment for anyone involved in the act of kidnapping.
It also contains a modification to the Criminal Code Act.
A Senate member, Oluremi Tinubu, sponsored the new bill with the title ‘A bill for an Act to amend the Criminal Code Act CAP. C.38, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2004’.
The bill aims to abolish gender restrictions in a rape case by justifying that both the male and female gender are susceptible to rape, ensure that kidnappers get higher punishment, and eliminate the limitation on defilement and other issues.
Furthermore, it removes the duration of the prosecuting defilement cases by elongating the duration, which was previously two months to as many years as possible, depending on the victim.
The new bill is coming two weeks after, following the bill passed by the upper chamber to prohibit sexual harassment in tertiary institutions last week.
