STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 (the Act) was enacted to prohibit indecent representation of women through advertisements or in publications, writings, paintings, figures or in any other manner. However, the Act in its present form relates primarily to the print media. Since the enactment of the Act, technological revolution has resulted in development of new forms of communication, such as, internet and satellite based communication, multi-media messaging, cable television, etc. It has , thus, become necessary to widen the scope of the Act so as to cover the above forms of media. Further, considering that the National Crimes Records Bureau recorded a total number of 845, 895 and 453 cases of violation of the provisions of the Act in the years 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively, for the law to be more effective, stringent punishment which acts as deterrent also becomes essential. It is also felt that the power to enter any premises and conduct search and seizure of any material, if there is reason to believe that an offence under the Act has been committed, should be made more effective and the officers conducting such searches are given sufficient protection while carrying out their duties under the Act. 2. It is, therefore, proposed to amend the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 to ensure more effective protection to women against their indecent representation. The Bill, inter alia, provides to— (a) define the “indecent represenation of women” to mean the depiction of the figure or form or body or any part thereof, of a woman in such a way as to have the effect of being indecent or derogatory to or denigrating women or is likely to deprave, corrupt or injure public morality; (b) amend the definitions of “advertisement” and “distribution” and also to define “electronic form”, “material” and “publish”; (c) prohibit the publication or distribution of any material, by any means, which contains indecent representation of women in any form; (d) increase the maximum imprisonment from two years to three years and fine from two thousand rupees to a fine of not less than fifty thousand rupees which may be extended to one lakh rupees for first offence; and increase the minimum imprisonment for second or subsequent offence from six months to two years and maximum imprisonment from five years to seven years and minimum fine from ten thousand rupees to one lakh rupees and maximum fine from one lakh rupees to five lakh rupees; (e) amend section 5 of the Act so as to authorise any police officer not below the rank of Inspector to make investigation of offences under the Act. 3. The Bill seeks to achieve the above objectives. NEW DELHI; The 30th November, 2012. KRISHNA TIRATH 4